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FatPrincess Wicked Witch
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Name: Parthenia Elisavet Aspasia Kalliope Metaxas
Title(s): The Last Vestal Virgin, Keeper of the Eternal Flame
Gender: Female
Age: 35
Alignment: True Neutral
Objective for the Grail: Immaculate conception
Command Seal:
Personality: Parthenia is something of a megalomaniac obsessed with power. A manipulative woman who always believes herself to be the smartest in any room, no matter the size. She enjoys toying with her opponents and at times will travel the curved road to victory, instead of the straight, solely for her own amusement. Though these traits make her a terrible person, they’ve made her an outstanding magi.
Biography: The Vestal Virgins were once the most powerful women in Ancient Rome. They were the priestesses of Vesta and had the duty of protecting her eternal flame. Considered pure and beautiful, these women were highly respected in society; in charge of keeping the sacred fire alight that represented the hearth of Vesta. These women led extraordinary lives, freed of the usual social obligations to marry and bear children, instead taking a 30-year vow of chastity.
After that vow was over and the whole of their term was completed, it was lawful for them to marry, leaving the sacred order in order to choose a life that pleased them. A marriage to a former Vestal was highly honored, and – more importantly in ancient Rome – thought to bring good luck, as well as a comfortable pension… Thus, the Metaxas line was born. A matriarchal family that does not keep a crest, but a flame. The longer it burns… the more powerful they become.
Parthenia is the only daughter succeeding an abundance of brothers her family saw no use for. Men could not keep the flame burning and therefore had no business practicing magecraft. As soon as the young girl could speak her training began, and as did a deep devotion to a Goddess the world had long since forgotten. Taking the vow she promised a period of servitude as a holy maiden, someone truly worthy of caring for Vesta’s flame.
But with as many times as it had been snuffed out in the past, Parthenia had her work cut out for her. Eventually, she joined the Clocktower, a surprisingly well-respected student due to the preserval of her family's mystery and her innate talent for manipulating flame. Even now at thirty-five years old, in the very last year of her vow, she works tirelessly to ensure her family's success and up until recently has paid no mind to her future duties though that is all about to change…
Unless she wins of course.
Magic Circuit Switch: A sacrifice burning (real or imagined)
Number of Magic Circuits: B
Quality of Magic Circuits: C
Elemental Affinity: Fire
Magecraft:
General Magecraft
The commonly understood metrics of what constitutes the bare basics of magecraft. One could hardly be considered a mage without at least an understanding of these basic principles.
Spiritual Evocation
A type of magecraft which allows one to summon beings or perform spiritual possession. It includes "invocation", the technique of attracting higher spirituality into one's own self, and "evocation", the technique of invoking spirituality on the outside of the self.
Evocation is Parenthia's specialty, often calling upon nature spirits to possess fires she may or may not have created herself, strengthening her control over them in the process.
Fire Magecraft
The spark of Vesta’s sacred fire was lit well over a million years ago, when our ancestor hominids first marveled at the mystery of fire and learned to rely upon it for life itself. They built stones around it. Then they built their homes around it. And eventually, they would build their temples and civilizations around it.
Fire worship is the earliest form of “religion” known to humankind, and it gave birth to the beloved goddess the earliest Romans called Vesta. Represented by an Eternal Flame, Vesta burned in the household hearth. Her divine flame was the spiritual focus of the home and made it a sacred space within which to live. When the fire cracked in the hearth, it was believed to be the voice of Vesta herself, speaking or singing.
The ancient Romans believed that as long as Vesta’s protecting fire burned in the temple, Rome would survive whatever famines, plagues, invasions or political crises came her way.
As a worshiper of this flame, a woman who has devoted her life to the Goddess many have since forgotten, Parthenia is allotted control over the primordial flame. Able to create embers and sparks with basic incantations. Her flames can be combined with the basics of magecraft to perform extraordinary feats such as the following:
- Utilizing fire as a catalyst to induce a trance, a type of mental interference which seeks to manipulate a target.
- Pyrotic communication.
- Employing fire to divine the locations of objects or people, often shown through the smoke.
- Transforming a fire into a bounded field, taming a flame into a circle of protection.
- Ritualistic fire combined with spiritual evocation allows communication with various nature spirits alongside the recently deceased.
- When combined with spiritual evocation, she is able to "tame" wildfires by calling nature spirits into the flame. For example, she could save a building from burning by utilizing the spirit to snuff out the fire, or use that spirit as gasoline, speeding up the inevitable.
Weapons:
Sacred Fire of Vesta (False): Eternal Flame
A type of replacement magic crest, sealed within Parthenia’s body the moment she took her vow. Just as flame is compared to knowledge, it holds the learnings of every Metaxas Matriarch for the past four hundred years. It would be much older if it wasn’t for the mistakes of her ancestors, a mistake she does not wish to make.
It acts as an auxiliary-type mystic code, greatly enhancing the abilities of her magecraft and cutting back on pesky preparation time.
Ceremonial Robes and Dagger
A religious garment to be worn when sacrifice is necessary, she also carries a simple dagger in her possession. Both are made from only the most precious materials money can buy.
Name: Brigitta Hackney
Title(s): N/A
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Objective for the Grail: Brigitta can find spirits and raise the dead, but she can’t find the one thing she truly wants; love. Her wish for the grail is to find the perfect match. Monsters are always cast out by society and Brigitta has been deemed as such. Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster — How could anyone like that ever find love?
Command Seal:
Title(s): N/A
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Objective for the Grail: Brigitta can find spirits and raise the dead, but she can’t find the one thing she truly wants; love. Her wish for the grail is to find the perfect match. Monsters are always cast out by society and Brigitta has been deemed as such. Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster — How could anyone like that ever find love?
Command Seal:
Appearance: As standards go, Brigitta is your typical goth with a wardrobe consisting of multiple shades of black, grey, and purple. Her hair, makeup, and her clothes are all perfectly colored and sometimes all look the same color in certain lighting. But don’t be fooled! Brigitta’s hair is a solid raven black with reflections of purple, while her clothes are normally inky black. All a contrast to her alabaster white skin.
Frills are not Brigitta’s taste and she prefers spikes, studs, lace, and laces. Each outfit is riddled with lace trims and studded completely out. Spikes so big they might as well be used to puncture her enemies are what her jewelry is mostly made of. Aside from a black choker made from the noose of martyrs.
Personality: Driven by pure morbid curiosity, the allure of death, and what comes after is what motivates this macabre mage. Every culture believes in a different afterlife, and in a way, she believes in them all. Interacting with the dead is like discovering a new story lost to time, a piece of history long forgotten. Knowing the unknown and cherishing what has been lost. Brigitta has turned her experiences with the dead into an unpublished book, one that tells the tragedies and acclaims of each spirit she’s interacted with. You could say Brigitta looked too deeply into Romeo and Juliet and tries to make everything reflect that.
Even though Brigitta's everyday life is full of death and sorrow, she makes it fun and uppity, but to most… it’s still dreadful and sorrow-filled. Among her writing, she has taken up theatrics to fill her time. Musical and just regular acting, Lights, camera, action! Brigitta likes to put on her own musicals by reanimating the dead and giving them a role to fill, sometimes she even gets them to perform soap operas. Who doesn’t love to watch a rotting corpse cheat on their wife with the maid? Brigitta sure does!
All in all, this mysterious girl is very whimsical and there are a lot of complexities that make up Brigitta Hackney. She may be fun and death-obsessed, but she is by no means a pushover and is quite a fearsome opponent. She’s one of the first to charge into battle, testing her limits, and seeing how far one is willing to go. For her? She’ll go pretty far. Brigitta is careless in that sense and given her family magecraft believes her extra layer of protection is enough to save her if things go horribly wrong.
Bio: All things begin with life and in the same cycle, all things will inevitably meet their end. A fate in which no one or nothing can escape. Cheating is only a temporary solution to a constant motion like death. Many try, and few succeed. However, there are a select few who can alter death’s plan and enforce their own upon the deceased; Necromancers. Death defiers, occultists, and most of all cheaters. The bane of death’s very purpose. With a natural affinity for the dark arts, these individuals wield great control over the dead, and with dedication and sacrifice, these death weavers can manipulate the soul and even their own body or another. Truly something to be feared, for it takes a demented mind to defile the dead in such a way.
In the 1100s, Decebal Lividus Hackney became more than a novice necromancer hiding from the hands of judgment —he became a Pontifex to a group of occultists, fatalists who sought to expand their reach in the afterlife. The young occultist was given the opportunity to learn secrets about his craft, secrets master necromancers spent their lives trying to decipher. In return for accepting to lead his fellow dark enchanters in a time of need, Decebal was granted power and knowledge beyond comprehension. The knowledge that bumped him from novice all the way up to grandmaster. Equipped with all the tools he needed to succeed in his task, Decebal never saw the man who dubbed him Pontifex again.
Throughout the years the grandmaster necromancer and his group of fatalists rose and fell like the push and pull of the tide. Whenever major world events occurred, you could be sure the occultists were there to clean up whatever mess man left behind. War, plague, and disasters that shook the earth, they collected each body and vanished. Of course, the Holy Church knew of their existence, but they left little to no mark and no reason to raise the Church’s suspicions. It was assumed the group had no real power due to no signs of reanimated bodies.
Little did the church know that the group took up residence in a small isolated town where they conducted experiments, with varying levels of extremity on the bodies of the deceased. But not even the living were safe for long… After rumors about a cult of necromancers spread, Decebal knew he had to act fast before the church sent out their elite to put nails in all their coffins. Left with no other option but the extreme, Decebal swiftly murdered the township's Lord and used him as a puppet to protect their work. Decebal's mastery over the dead allowed his puppet to move freely, talk, and most importantly take orders. This allowed the necromancers free reign over the town, performing their immoral experiments in a time when the land was plague-stricken, which meant missing people were not just expected, but planned for.
Having no one to inherit your power and knowledge is a mage's biggest fear and Decebal wasn’t going to let his knowledge vanish after his eventual death. No, he decided to carry on his legacy after courting and marrying one of the disciples — Delora, a gypsy with the gift to speak to ghosts of the past. A medium and a necromancer, she found solace and a purpose in Decebal’s cult and became one of his disciples. Soon, she became his wife and mother to his child. And the two had a plan to dub their newborn the township’s heir, the spawn of their dead lord. A plan that ascended the family to status and power among mages while gaining wealth and partial immunity to the church.
Over the years since, the Hackney family disbanded their secret organization in favor of keeping their knowledge within the family. They have risen, fallen, and gone into obscurity. Before returning, only to repeat the cycle again. According to reports from the Clocktower in the 1800s, the Hackney family had gone into hiding deep in the Netherlands, before reappearing briefly in the 1900s and then retreating to obscurity. As such, the family is known primarily for being businessmen first, and socialites last. But as of the 1950s, the Hackney family has been considered dead. As no mage had heard from the family for a long time, and no heir proper had arrived at the Clocktower. While some believe it was a result of internal family politics, some believe the family's dealings caught up to them and they were exterminated by a member of the Holy Church for breaking some kind of sacred law.
Introducing Brigitta Hackney, the surviving child of the Hackney Family's most infamous ritual. The ritual in question rewrote how the organs and parts of the body connected and acted with a survival rate that is unsurprisingly low, with Brigitta being the third child born of her parents… and the only one to survive. Which left her childhood undergoing training and experiments on her body, killing and reviving cells to see their reactions, to hopefully mutate her genetics and achieve a body fit for the Holy Grail War. Even then, she was still a student, and in order to help her achieve that, her parents had her enrolled in the Clocktower. Perhaps to make rivals, or to lord over it. However, Brigitta had no idea the Clocktower had shunned her family, not because of their practice, but because of how they went about it. No secret was a secret among mages, and word spread about their…endeavors in the middle ages.
It is likely the family’s general isolation meant they didn’t even know of a grail war against the forces of good and evil going on until a few months ago. A few months ago Brigitta became the first and only Master of the Hackney family, and the one to lead the family into a new era. Though let's be honest... She's got her work cut out for her.
Magic Circuit Switch: Dirt Filling a Grave (Real or Imagined)
Number of Magic Circuits: B
Quality of Magic Circuits: B
Elemental Affinity: Earth, Aether
Magecraft:
- ♱ General Magecraft
The commonly understood metrics of what constitutes the bare basics of magecraft. One could hardly be considered a mage without at least an understanding of these basic principles.
♱ Necromancy
Something that is supposed to be the end is only the beginning for those who practice this dark art. Once dirt covers a body, it is left to rest in peace for eternity while its friends and family grieve their loss. Necromancers work against the laws of nature and preside over life and death, they defy the very fabric of what it means to be dead by decimating remains and giving purpose to those who may not have had it in life. Albeit a very selfish purpose determined by a necromancer's will and desire. Twisted and immoral whims are fulfilled through a reanimated corpse, and if their family members could see them now, they would pray for the expulsion of the very demon inhabiting the body of their loved one. Zombies of the living have no memory and lesser necromancers create monsters instead of fully realized ghouls. Only select families or individuals have the ability to keep a corpse's memory and abilities from their life intact. Most mages who delve into this taboo craft never live long enough to gain control over the monsters they raise. The ones who do have centuries of familial knowledge to guide them.
Undeath is much more complex than one might think. There are restrictions each practitioner must follow, guidelines they don’t tell you before your own creation mutilate you. To raise the dead, understanding the afterlife is the key to success. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong if you prematurely try to progress past your limits. But using the dead as weapons is only a small part of the cemetery of secrets and abilities that have been buried over the ages. Necromancy is not just the reanimation of corpses and calls of wraiths or spirits, it is invoking all that is dead and using it to your advantage. Being crafty is in a necromancer's nature, which is why many frowns upon the craft. Crafty means using your surroundings and sometimes your surroundings are unfavorable. How can one raise the dead in a concrete jungle? Well, even within the most unbeneficial of territories it is almost always a guarantee that sometime, somewhere, someone has died and bones make amazing constructs or weapons, perfect for a necromancer in unknown territory. Even their very own cells can be harnessed and used in unusual ways. With more than 200 thousand of a person's cells dying every hour, they have more than enough to work with.
Some bodies provide a better skill set and power boost than others, with mages and phantasmal beasts at the top of the spectrum. Human bodies are weak, fragile, and easily disposed of. While the body of a magus has natural resistances that can help slow down the wear and tear of a zombie magus. In very rare instances, a reanimated mage can carry a magical plague, affecting only those exposed to prana. The effect transferred is based on the magecraft the mage specialized in life and could range anywhere from the skin slowly rotting, to the crystallization of body parts and becoming so fragile, that they break. However, this is just a myth among necromancers and has been deemed untrue. Stories and lies necromancers tell each other to up-scale their abilities. Though mages are undesirable to fully raise due to their ability to go rogue and turn on their master. This doesn’t mean their body parts can’t be used, they prove to be very useful weapons and mystical objects harboring properties of the mages craft.
Once the masters of their craft, the Hackney family was proficient in their craft and could raise armies of magi with phantasmal beasts as their defense. Even starting the first magi-transferred plague through one of their experiments. They were at the pinnacle of power before the Holy Church started observing the family with its ever-so-watchful eyes. Even going as far as to make the church believe they went through a ‘reform’, while never really changing, just recalling and dismissing many of their creations. There are still Hackney’s to this day that can still do all their craft entails, just not to the degree of Hackney’s in past decades. Brigitta herself is a competent necromancer, but she isn’t a master and it shows. While she can reanimate corpses and raise spirits and even access every aspect of the dark art, she has very little control over her creations, backfiring more than usual and going rogue. Her control over the dead is not as fierce as others and she chooses not to utilize this aspect that often.
♱ Fleshcraft
With seven billion humans on the planet, the most abundant resource is human bodies, and flesh is the second most abundant. A form and branch of its predecessor — Fleshcraft is viewed poorly, often because of how... grotesque it is. It's hardly one of those flashy magecrafts, and you'll be carrying around a book made of human flesh. It's hardly a good look, and most mages would avoid being associated with something so deeply rooted in necromancy. Much less mold and work flesh-like dough.
Fleshcraft was more commonly used among necromancers in the 15th century before the controlling grip of Christian Doctrine crushed this particular magecraft into the dirt. It was favored among necromancers due to Flesh making a great offense. It's malleable. Used to shape, form, and mutilate their opponent's flesh, and even their own, practitioners were revered and many strayed away. Using flesh, meat, and bone as material for crafting objects. One is capable of shaping flesh, either into claws, or making flesh hard as rock and stone. With a greater understanding users of this magecraft are able to repair organs and perform risky surgery without the risk and allow for the creation of Mystic Codes.
Still existing in the Hacknet family magic crest, like a particularly nasty-looking wart. After inheriting her family’s crest, Brigitta discovered flesh craft and added it to her personal arsenal. Excelling at its usage, Brigitta can shape her own flesh and the others, though this process is extremely painful even for small things like claws or simple surgery. With this magecraft Brigitta is able to repair her mystic codes made from flesh. Brigitta is, however, not able to perform surgery on herself. Like a doctor holding a scalpel to themselves, she is blind-sighted and cannot see what needs to be done. Making it mildly inconvenient when she’s internally bleeding.
♱ Spiritual Evocation
A Thaumaturgical System that allows one to summon beings or perform spiritual possession. It includes "invocation", the technique of attracting higher spirituality into one's own self, and "evocation", the technique of invoking spirituality on the outside of the self. Necromancy makes use of this by contacting a former version of the dead, an alive version, and using this as grounds to invoke the corpse and reanimate it. This process is supposed to be clean and effectively bring back the person in question with full memory and functionality, however, many necromancers get lost in this process due to having to search for the spirit, and the dead love to lie. The result of bringing back the wrong spirit or the connection breaking during the journey back is a zombie. Most necromancers create zombies, not for lack of knowledge or experience, but because there are many interferences causing the ritual to be incomplete.
♱ The Body Burns
The Hackney family has a ritual. That ritual is performed with the birth of the new heir and is to protect them from death. Long ago, the Hackney family's deeds had a tendency to catch up with them. Witch Hunters, Assassins, and all manner of ill-tempered peasants had a tendency to take their rage out upon the heirs of the Hackney family. The family developed a method to strengthen the body, by making it harder and harder to kill. Organs are designed to carry the load of each other. If the lungs fail, the skin may breathe. The amount of redundancies is quite staggering and allows Brigitta to survive for a longer period of time than most other mages would if a specific organ were to fail or be removed. Unfortunately, it also makes any form of surgery not performed by a member of the Hackney family... Very very difficult.
A unique trait that allows Brigitta to survive organ destruction by placing the strain/use of one organ onto another. For example, if her lungs fail, or are punctured, her skin is capable of taking on the strain of breathing. Other organs are capable of fulfilling the usage of another organ for a period of time.
The more organs that fail, the more strain that is placed upon the remaining organs to fulfill their role. This is not immortality, but a way to increase one's own survivability by placing strain on other parts of the body to fill in for the functions of damaged organs.
There is no alternative to having a brain or heart though. Should the brain/heart be destroyed, it cannot be replaced.
♱ Complex Organ Systems (Weakness)
A weakness inherent only to the Hackney family. By reworking their organs to be capable of built-in redundancies to carry their own load, the body of the typical Hackney family member is... Very complicated. Careless surgery of the body, without understanding how it functions is likely to result in pain, organ failure, or worse... As such, members of the Hackney family perform their own surgeries, or with a team of assistants who know their bodies as well as they do.
Increases the difficulty of performing any sort of physical surgery on Brigitta. Anybody attempting to perform on-the-fly medical procedures (without magecraft) must have surgery or medical skill of B-rank or higher in order to perform it successfully. Otherwise, it is sure to fail.
Crest:
- ♱ Magic Crest
A Magic Crest is a collection of magic circuits of the Magus family. It is a potent tool in any Magus arsenal as within it are a number of stored spells from each of the Magi that contributed to the Crest, therefore, the older the Crest, the more useful it is. To access any spell recorded in the Crest, the Magus has to pour prana into it; causing it to show on their body, then they get access to all information needed for casting the chosen spell.
The Hackney family crest dates back to the 1100s during the Holy Roman Empire. According to what little public records exist of that time, the Hackney family was responsible for overseeing a small town in the Netherlands. The town itself bowed to the Holy Roman Empire, but in truth, it was utterly isolated and that loyalty was no deeper than ink on a page. The Hackney family turned that small village into a prison. They began breeding programs and would kill small children for their experiments. The isolated nature of the village kept outside interference from being involved.
Inevitably, when the 1200s rolled around, the family destroyed all public records of the small village they had turned into an experiment ground and moved on. Finding new domains to lord over, they became advisers to royalty and kept their experiments ongoing in secret. The Hackney family as it is now is built on the bedrocks left by the previous generations. The experiments are still ongoing, but the methods of gathering their resources have changed. In truth, the Hackney family has little to no interest in ever-changing.
The current heiress of the family is Brigitta Hackney, daughter of the family head Albert Constantine Hackney, and granddaughter of Bernard Cassius Hackney.
Like a nasty wart, this magic crest is littered with necromancy and a dark past. If it could talk, you’d hear the tragic stories of each victim: the Hackney family brutally mutilated or sent people running in fear. Even though the dark relic reeks of death, it has been taken care of since its creation in the late 1100s. Each head has added its own versions of spells and dark incantations, vastly different than the last. You can be sure there is a lot of knowledge to pick through and learn from to hopefully add their own spells. The Hackney family does not tolerate slackers.
Weapon:
- ♱ Noose of the Martyrs
In the 1600s, a group of nineteen Dutch scholars, clerics, and men of the cloth were hanged in the city of Brielle. The priests and scholars were executed in a turf shed, despite the pleas of several local government officials and the Prince of Orange. Their deaths led to the growth of nineteen white flowers to honor their faith and courage, despite the cruelty inflicted upon them. The noose used to end their lives was cut down and made into a stylish choker necklace… How ironic.
Brigitta wears the noose of the nineteen around her neck, which has been fashioned over the years into a black ribbon that is worn at all times. It is a cursed item, carrying the pain of those who suffered the deaths of martyrs. It is their wish that those who ended their lives be made to suffer as they had. Anybody who wears this necklace is the tool of that divine rage. As such, whenever injured, any injuries dealt to Brigitta are inflicted upon the aggressor. This does not include a servant's noble phantasm or anything that indirectly attacks her such as curses.
♱ Hand of Glory
The pickled left hand of a hanged man from the 1700s. Murdered in cold blood, the man was hanged for his crime and as a man does, they defiled his body by cutting his left hand off. The one that ‘did the deed.’. Sold as an oddity with no real power as claimed, a Hackney bought the pickled object and used their flesh craft to turn it into a mystic code. Any locks the hand touches are instantly unlocked, not including doors locked by magical means. Weak bounded fields touched by the hand are dispelled within a matter of seconds.
♱ Rotting Candles
A set of candles made from human flesh is passed down throughout the family. They burn far slower than normal candles but are also much hotter. Their scent has been compared to that of the legendary titan arum, more commonly referred to as the corpse flower. When one of these candles is placed within the palm of the Hand of glory and a personal (preferably flammable) object of someone is placed into the flame of the candle, it will instantly combust as the candle begins to burn. Until it burns out the person will have their movement severely hindered, or they will be rendered completely immobile if left defenseless.
"Oh geez, are we gonna have a philosophical debate while we fight? Listen I've done this song and dance before, can we skip to the part where you sell me your eyes or I kill you?"
Name:
Iris Macinban
Title(s):
Deputy Macinban, Retina of the Rail
Gender:
Female
Age:
26
Alignment:
Lawful Evil
Objective for the Grail:
"A Rainbow-Ranked Mystic Eye. That is all I desire."
Command Seal:
A simple sphere, tapering off on the side to give an almost crescent moon shape. Two smaller spheres reside within, the larger of the two overlapping the primary sphere. The smallest is the only sphere that doesn't have a break in it. with the massive quantity of tattoos covering her entire body, it is a bit difficult to pinpoint where her Command Seals are located - and with her Tattoo Magecraft, she is more than capable of moving the physical location of her Command Seals on her body.
Appearance:
Iris stands at 5'10 and weighs 145 lbs. Her hair is a muted brown, cut short to prevent it from getting in the way during combat. Finding bare flesh that isn't covered in tattoos is difficult, and if you are particularly attentive, one may see the designs slowly shift and move across her body.
Her time on the Rail Zeppelin and traveling around Europe seems to have hardened her somewhat to the cool climate of Japan, as she sticks to long sleeve shirts rather than jackets. Formal wear is her preferred style of clothes, but in combat, she sticks to outfits that reveal her skin - this allows her to more easily release her familiars.
Personality:
Iris is cheeky and manipulative, quick to push others into positions that benefit her. Loyalty, tradition, honor - none of it has any meaning if it can't be used for her own benefit. She would much rather force or trick someone else into doing the working or fighting for her, only to swoop in after the fact to snatch up the rewards. Because of this and her approach to magecraft, her main combat style is to chip away, use underhanded tricks, and strike when someone least expects it.
Most of Iris' personality stems from her hangup on her own Magic Circuits. Iris has a very traditional view of what a Mage is, and what defines a successful magus: If someone is born with good circuits, they will always be a better magus than someone born with worse circuits. And because she was born to a young family, Iris would never be a good Mage. If she was lucky, her grandchild might be decent - all she'd ever achieve was a small stepping stone in her family's history, inevitably forgotten.
But the Rail Zeppelin, with its ability to transfer Mystic Eyes from one person to another, shined like a beacon of hope to Iris. Even if she couldn't have perfect circuits, she'd at least be able to have something that few other Magi could aspire to possess. This idea led to her obsession with Mystic Eyes - both acquiring them, as well as hoarding them.
Greed and materialism are what drive Iris to action. If you can't attach a price tag to something, then there isn't really that much point in working for it is there? Reaching the Root is meaningless to Iris, as doing so would mean leaving behind everything that a Magi family has worked to gain and hoard over dozens or even hundreds of generations. This outlook is what separates her from the average Mage - while most Mages merely covet wealth in order to progress their research, Iris wishes to have it for the sake of holding onto that wealth and to give her a sense of fulfillment. While Magic Circuits can only be built generationally, a massive amount of Wealth can be generated over an incredibly brief period of time, given the proper conditions.
On most topics she seems to just be along for the ride, throwing out generic responses or whatever she believes will make someone feel a connection to her. Being respected is almost as useful as being feared in the world of magecraft, so Iris is careful to avoid burning bridges unless absolutely necessary. But when frustrated or pushed, she will quickly snap back, her hostile and abrasive nature boiling to the surface.
Iris struggles to build close bonds with those around her - interacting so much with Mages has led her to assume the worst in anyone she meets, and her line of work had seriously crippled her empathy. She isn't a sadist that gets pleasure out of seeing people hurt - she just couldn't be bothered to care. "Why would it matter if someone I don't know gets hurt?" is all she would say.
It is because of this apathetic nature that she is more than happy to accept surrenders or alliances - even if she is aware that an alliance in a Grail War (or in life) is short-lived, the end result will be a single opponent rather than six - much better odds. Of course, if someone could convince her to join their side with something more valuable to her than the grail, they would gain a powerful and 'loyal' ally.
As far as Servants are concerned, Iris is incredibly laissez-faire in their treatment - she rarely gives orders or limits her Servant's actions, only stepping in when they blatantly put her at risk. She views the war as a waiting game - why get into a bunch of fights and burn through her magical energy, when you can just let them kill each other? But just because she is not willing to crack the whip does not mean she is the submissive one in the relationship - she is perfectly happy to waste Command Seals forcing her Servant to obey her rare few requests, and will only restrain herself when brought to her last one. Iris has a fondness for younger Servants and Lilies, and she will reveal a softer and more maternal side to those that remind her of her brother. While she would normally be restricted to very weak Servants thanks to her poor circuits, she is perfectly fine with letting her Servant consume the souls of humans to gain energy, so she functions well with those of an Evil alignment.
Iris' wish for the Grail is simple. Mystic Eyes are all that she cares for, and having a truly unique pair would make her a truly unique Mage. She would need the best Mystic Eyes possible - those of the Rainbow rank. It didn't matter what it actually did - only that it was powerful, and people respected her for having them.
Bio:
The Macinban family is a very recent family, barely a century old at this point. Their founder was a tattooed freak, who learned of magecraft from the man that ran the carnival that he worked for. The Macinbans had since laid their roots down in Ireland, hoping to be as close to the Clock Tower as possible while still avoiding the financial costs that came with living in London. The progress they've made in their short existence is notable, but trying to reach the Root by scribbling on your skin is absurd, to the point that the Macinban are laughingstocks even amongst the new families.
Iris is from the fourth generation of her family, and while her youth was a lot less rigid compared to most older families, she still spent most of her time as a child either studying magecraft, or strapped to a chair as a needle prints new designs on her skin. Despite this, she was a relatively happy child, and the birth of her younger brother gave her someone who she felt that she could confide in and protect.
When Iris turned 16, her family had scraped together enough funds to send her to the Clock Tower to study. It was here that Iris was finally exposed to the hazing and discrimination that newer families face - hypnotism that made her act out in classes, worse marks on her papers, and even theft of her precious few mystic codes. Iris would spend 4 months in the Clock Tower before eventually leaving.
Her brief but formative time at the Clock Tower made her realize that no matter how hard she tried or worked, she would never accomplish the goal of her family. At best, she might marry a better mage, produce an heir with better circuits than her, and pray that dozens of generations later, someone will finally succeed in reaching the Root - or at the very least, adjust their Magecraft to a more likely path.
Iris did not want to waste her life researching and placating the upper echelons of the magic world, only to risk not even accomplishing her family's goal. She had already lost her chance to become a skilled mage - no matter how hard she trained or studied, she would not be able to safely acquire more Magic Circuits. The only way to be a potent mage without proper circuits is by being born with a special ability - a psychic power, a unique bloodline.
A Mystic Eye.
Upon learning of the Rail Zeppelin four months into her study at the Clock Tower, Iris immediately dropped out, using the funds that should have gone towards her tuition instead to gain a position on the train. After a year of hard labor as a cook and waitress on the Train (and having successfully convinced one passenger to sell an eye), she was promoted to being a Deputy - someone who enforces the peace on the Rail Zeppelin, and searches for new Mystic Eyes to add to the Rail Zeppelin's stock.
She did this job for nearly a decade - searching Europe for strong Mystic Eyes, attempting to convince the holder to sell, and killing them if they refused. Her reputation as a hunter of Mystic Eyes grew to be widely known in the Association, to the point where many who crossed paths with her simply offered to sell a single eye in order to avoid being killed. She grew incredibly wealthy off of the commission she got from these eyes, which in turn she used to pay back her family and win new Mystic Eyes at auction. She believed that eventually, with enough searching, buying, selling, and killing - after she got enough money, after she got a strong enough eye, she'd eventually be a good mage.
And she'd fill that void in her life.
But every year, the options in Europe grew slimmer and slimmer. Eventually, the Deputies had to widen their search - the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and the Americas.
And in 1990, after rumors of an exceptionally potent pair of Mystic Eyes of Distortion were discovered in Japan, Iris was quick to follow.
When Iris arrived in Japan, the nation was in despair - earthquakes and floods decimated the population, and you couldn't walk far without seeing the sick or dying. It was perfect - many Mystic Eyes mutated during life-and-death experiences, and Iris was sure to find at least a few potent ones before reaching her target.
But during her initial research in the area, she uncovered something that she had only heard in passing back in Europe - a great ritual constructed by three mage families and held in the city of Fuyuki, the winner of which would be granted a wish.
Reaching the Root or a True Magic was not something that Iris cared for - She knew just from hearing of the ritual that was the intention the mages had for it. A way to cheat centuries of research and reach their goal in only a single generation. But something deep in her gut pulled at her. If she could wish for anything, maybe she could skip all of this hunting and just get the Eyes she needed right away. Nothing would prove that she was a better mage than winning a war among mages.
Spending a sizable portion of her fortune on a proper catalyst, Iris made her way to Fuyuki. She was confident that she could handle the opposing Masters - she had fought mages for years.
But the Ghost Liners - the Servants. That would be an issue.
Magic Circuit Switch:
The feeling of a hot needle piercing the eye.
Number of Magic Circuits:
D
Quality of Magic Circuits:
D
Elemental Affinity:
Water
Origin:
Staining
Magecraft:
Tattoo Magecraft:
The art of inscribing one's own body with ink, utilizing various patterns in order to draw out the conceptual meaning behind the shapes inscribed on the user. It is based on the runic tattoos that Berserkers and Vikings were adorned with, which were designed to grant strength and courage in battle. The Magecraft could thus be described as an overspecialized mishmash of Runes and Reinforcement.
In essence, it focuses on creating spells that are permanently etched into the body, which can be activated by pouring energy into rather than reciting a Chant or using a Mystic Code. For example, the tattoo of an Eye could be activated to grant increased visual acuity, a bear could grant increased strength, or a flame might function like a lighter. The larger the tattoo, the more potent the effect - a small fire on the thumb might work like a lighter, while an entire sleeve of flames could shoot out short gouts of fire, provided they receive enough magical energy.
The main limitations of Tattoo Magecraft are the prep time involved, and the incredibly weak strength. While versatile and capable of a wide array of effects, only something large like a back tattoo would grant a supernatural edge over a normal trained person. And for their weak effects, the tattoos require quite the investment of time - even the simplest designs take dozens of minutes, while large and actually combat-applicable tattoos take up massive portions of the body, limiting the total number of tattoos and taking days to fully etch out.
With her limited magical energy and lack of training in her Magecraft, Iris almost exclusively uses Tattoo Magecraft in the creation of her Familiars - instead using her Mystic Eyes to combat others. Still, it's a fun party trick to make your tattoos dance and move around.
Familiars:
Because she left the Clocktower before acquiring a proper education in Magecraft, the only aspect of General Magecraft that Iris is capable of is the creation and maintenance of Familiars. However, in conjunction with her Tattoo Magecraft, collection of Mystic Eyes, and specialization, Iris is in possession of a number of potent Familiars.
Rather than create Familiars the most traditional way, by stuffing leftover human thoughts into an animal's corpse, Iris instead uses the tattooed animals and plants on her body as a vessel. While much more fragile and weak due to not having a physical form, these familiars are also exceptionally fast and stealthy. Iris uses them for reconnaissance, seeing through their eyes and stalking her prey before eventually attacking them for their eyes.
The most notable attribute of these Familiars is their ability to be 'equipped' with Mystic Eyes from Iris' collection. While weaker at using them thanks to their limited Magical Energy, this effectively allows Iris to use over a dozen Mystic Eyes at any one time... so long as she is willing to risk losing the eyes if a familiar were to die.
Since she forms these Familiars with her Tattoo Magecraft, the Familiars that Iris creates must adhere to a 'surface' - slinking along the ground or walls like graffiti, or flittering on a piece of paper through the air. As a result of this and the ink that forms them, Water is both an impassable barrier as well as an easy method of killing them.
Crest:
N/A.
The Macinban family Crest was not passed to Iris due to her abandoning the research of her family Magecraft in favor of being a Spellcaster. Instead, it was given to her younger brother. Not a tremendous loss, considering the youth of the family.
Weapon:
Mystic Eyes:
Occasionally, a person's Magic Circuits will mutate and congregate in the area around the eyes, resulting in eyes that are capable of manipulating the world and casting spells through sight alone. These organs, Mystic Eyes, are very rare as they only manifest after extreme circumstances or the user is born with them. Mystic Eyes even come with their own Magic Circuits, allowing even a weak mage to have a hidden advantage over their opponents. Normally a person would only be able to use a single eye or two at most, but thanks to her unique application of her Magecraft, Iris is far stronger the more eyes that she has access to.
As one could expect from a Deputy of the Rail Zeppelin, Iris is in possession of a wide array of Mystic Eyes. Many of these were acquired from her own missions abroad, the occasional eye slipping into her possession or bought at the auctions that the Rail Zeppelin organizes. While she is only able to have two eyes at any time and must undergo surgery to replace them, her use of familiars in conjunction with them has led to her being a very intimidating Spell-caster to face.
While on the move, Iris keeps her Mystic Eyes in enchanted, hermetically-sealed vials - which she usually keeps in her belt pouches or pockets. While it is technically possible to implant these eyes in another being without the advanced techniques and facilities of the Rail Zeppelin, it would require some exceptional quality of the recipient - for example, the Eroding Detachment ability possessed by some Mixed-Bloods, or the Self-Modification skill.
She has brought the following eyes with her to Japan:
Binding: Nine. The most common Mystic Eyes, to the point that skilled mages are even capable of artificially reproducing them. The Mystic Eyes of Binding casts a disabling spell on anyone who looks into them, limiting their ability to move.
While one or two uses may be ignored, Iris' primary tactic is to swarm opponents with familiars containing these eyes - they will either look into them and be crippled or forced to look away and create blind spots. Either way, it allows Iris to shoot them with minimal risk. Despite the simple strategy, it is overwhelmingly effective on the unprepared.
It should be noted that the effect of these eyes on Servants is minimal at best. And even with that, the lowest ranks of Magic Resistance can allow these eyes to be entirely ignored.
Iris doesn't even remember where she got all of them from.
Piercing: Two. Mystic Eyes that are capable of seeing through deceptions and figments, such as Illusions or Shapeshifting. Even a Servant that is in their Spirit Form can be observed. These eyes see only the truth that is present before them and rejects lies, but they only penetrate visual illusions. Auditory or physical illusions are still just as effective at deceiving the user of these eyes as any other target.
They are superficially similar to the Pure Eyes, but those are more of a psychic ability rather than true Mystic Eyes.
The eyes were gotten from two separate individuals, who Iris convinced to sell to the Rail Zeppelin.
Keen Sight: Three. Capable of easily picking out details from long distances, with all three eyes being able to easily read a page from a book that is over 30 meters away - and 10 meters in near-total darkness.
Iris stole one eye from a mage in New York City, blackmailed an Aristocrat from the Clock Tower into buying the other for her at a Rail Zeppelin auction, and convinced an Iranian boy to sell one of his to the Rail Zeppelin - the funds from which he used to pay his tuition to the Clock Tower.
Flame: Two. One of these has replaced Iris' left eye. By pouring magical energy into them, a target that the user can see is instantly ignited, regardless of flammability. While relatively cheap to activate, they guzzle mana to maintain and will quickly dip into the user's own reserves, so Iris mostly limits its use to setting flammable objects ablaze before immediately cutting the flow of energy.
While igniting a mage's flesh is impossible thanks to their natural magical resistance, affecting clothes is well within this eye's power, and Iris finds it to be nearly as effective.
The first was taken from a Spellcaster that Iris drowned in ink, while the one she had implanted in her body was traded with an eccentric Aristocrat for a particularly rare vintage of wine.
Remote Viewing: One. The sole Gold-ranked Mystic Eye in Iris' possession, and the one that replaced her right eye. By focusing on a target who she can remember the face of, Iris is capable of viewing both the target as well as their immediate surroundings. She can do this at a range of dozens of kilometers, and switching between targets is as simple as blinking. A Bounded Field or a Caster's Territory is able to alert the target to this occurring, and stronger ones can even block the viewing from taking place.
But if Iris was able to obtain an item connected to her target (like their clothes, a pendant, or even their blood), this eye would be able to pierce nearly any barrier. The distance this operates at is given a similar boost in potency, with a strong catalyst allowing viewing of a target from a hundred or two kilometers away. Only an entirely separate world, like a Reality Marble, would be able to hide someone's location at this level - though exceptionally camouflaged or invisible opponents may be able to hide, only revealing their surroundings.
It is easily Iris' most treasured Mystic Eye, and as a result, it can serve as an excellent bargaining chip if one could somehow acquire it.
She does not share where she got this eye from.
While one or two uses may be ignored, Iris' primary tactic is to swarm opponents with familiars containing these eyes - they will either look into them and be crippled or forced to look away and create blind spots. Either way, it allows Iris to shoot them with minimal risk. Despite the simple strategy, it is overwhelmingly effective on the unprepared.
It should be noted that the effect of these eyes on Servants is minimal at best. And even with that, the lowest ranks of Magic Resistance can allow these eyes to be entirely ignored.
Iris doesn't even remember where she got all of them from.
Piercing: Two. Mystic Eyes that are capable of seeing through deceptions and figments, such as Illusions or Shapeshifting. Even a Servant that is in their Spirit Form can be observed. These eyes see only the truth that is present before them and rejects lies, but they only penetrate visual illusions. Auditory or physical illusions are still just as effective at deceiving the user of these eyes as any other target.
They are superficially similar to the Pure Eyes, but those are more of a psychic ability rather than true Mystic Eyes.
The eyes were gotten from two separate individuals, who Iris convinced to sell to the Rail Zeppelin.
Keen Sight: Three. Capable of easily picking out details from long distances, with all three eyes being able to easily read a page from a book that is over 30 meters away - and 10 meters in near-total darkness.
Iris stole one eye from a mage in New York City, blackmailed an Aristocrat from the Clock Tower into buying the other for her at a Rail Zeppelin auction, and convinced an Iranian boy to sell one of his to the Rail Zeppelin - the funds from which he used to pay his tuition to the Clock Tower.
Flame: Two. One of these has replaced Iris' left eye. By pouring magical energy into them, a target that the user can see is instantly ignited, regardless of flammability. While relatively cheap to activate, they guzzle mana to maintain and will quickly dip into the user's own reserves, so Iris mostly limits its use to setting flammable objects ablaze before immediately cutting the flow of energy.
While igniting a mage's flesh is impossible thanks to their natural magical resistance, affecting clothes is well within this eye's power, and Iris finds it to be nearly as effective.
The first was taken from a Spellcaster that Iris drowned in ink, while the one she had implanted in her body was traded with an eccentric Aristocrat for a particularly rare vintage of wine.
Remote Viewing: One. The sole Gold-ranked Mystic Eye in Iris' possession, and the one that replaced her right eye. By focusing on a target who she can remember the face of, Iris is capable of viewing both the target as well as their immediate surroundings. She can do this at a range of dozens of kilometers, and switching between targets is as simple as blinking. A Bounded Field or a Caster's Territory is able to alert the target to this occurring, and stronger ones can even block the viewing from taking place.
But if Iris was able to obtain an item connected to her target (like their clothes, a pendant, or even their blood), this eye would be able to pierce nearly any barrier. The distance this operates at is given a similar boost in potency, with a strong catalyst allowing viewing of a target from a hundred or two kilometers away. Only an entirely separate world, like a Reality Marble, would be able to hide someone's location at this level - though exceptionally camouflaged or invisible opponents may be able to hide, only revealing their surroundings.
It is easily Iris' most treasured Mystic Eye, and as a result, it can serve as an excellent bargaining chip if one could somehow acquire it.
She does not share where she got this eye from.
Panoptes Lens:
A tattoo design that covers the entirety of her arms, chest, and back. The hands taper off into crescents which when brought together form a large eye. This is a kind of Mystic Code that Iris had developed over her years working for the Rail Zeppelin, basing its function and design on the Mystic Eye Projector utilized by the train. By holding a Mystic Eye (or the transparent containers that Iris carries them in) and activating the Mystic Code, Iris is capable of utilizing the Eye at 10x the normal power, at the cost of burning out the lens and rendering it blind (and therefore, useless).
While it lacks the raw power that its progenitor is capable of, the Panoptes Lens can be deployed nigh-instantly and is 'carried' on her person at all times. It is her trump card, the last resort when stealth and subterfuge have failed to kill a target. The fact that she was able to make something like this when her magecraft had such a weak foundation is a testament to her obsession.
Familiars:
A large number of Tattoos litter Iris' body - Chinese dragons and flowers, birds and wolves, countless eyes whose nerves split into wings or legs - all manner of lifeforms cover her flesh. With a command, she is capable of animating these as fragile familiars, which leap off of her body and slink along surfaces. Some, like the bird tattoos, are even capable of controlling how a paper floats on the wind, allowing a poor imitation of flight.
While weak enough that even a normal human could scratch and wipe one or two away, their ability to use Mystic Eyes and provide intel is invaluable in a war. And in a pinch, a large enough number could be used to drown someone in ink.
Normally around 10 can be animated at any time without strain to the user, but depending on the maintenance cost of her Servant, the actual number of familiars that Iris can keep active may be far lower.
A Gun:
A simple handgun - a Beretta Mod 92, to be specific. While Iris is far from being a master marksman like the many Freelancers in the world of Magecraft, she values its raw efficiency and the countless mages who underestimate a firearm.
XerxesIsVerd
Member
Seen
4 yrs ago
Name: Mehmed the 2nd
Class: Archer
Personality:
-> Archer is a complicated personality. On an average day, he could be considered more of an academic than a true fighter at heart, being more comfortable catching up on a quick book rather than running from certain death. As he is summoned in his prime, Archer has yet to be fully consumed by his darker tendencies and naturally comes off as a rather childish individual. The latter is most prominently displayed in his impatience and inherently greedy disposition. As such, he will naturally covet what doesn't belong to him, the bigger and brighter the prize, the greater Archer's desire for it becomes. His greed doesn't just stop at material objects, however, as even the hearts of men are a prize sought after by the father of conquerors. If there is one thing he recognizes, it is that material objects last but a season, but the love of others, resting in the annals of history, is forever. All he has is his name, and if that is to be taken away, broken down, and sullied, Archer, will do whatever necessary to repay the measure in kind. He views the master-servant relationship in an awkward light. Rather than be subservient to his master, the latter is seen as nothing but an accessory to him until they have proven worthy of his service. Given that is the case, he will usually act on his own accord, unless a suitable degree of power is shown by his master. In such a case, Archer becomes a nearly robotic agent, conducting his masters' orders without even a hint of question.
Stats:
Strength: B
Endurance: C
Agility: A (+)
Mana: D
Luck: C
Class Skills:
-> Independent Action: C (+)
----> It is possible for a Servant to stay in the world for two days without a Master. However, this is the ideal value achieved by maximally conserving mana and avoiding battle and Noble Phantasm usage. After incurring great humiliation, the ranking of this skill increases.
-> Magic Resistance C
----> Cancel spells with a chant below two verses. Cannot defend against magecraft on the level of greater magecraft and Greater Rituals. Archer possesses negligible resistance against magecraft despite his class container.
Personal Skills:
-> FIREPOWER SUPPORT (CANNON) A
----> Is a powerful ranged attack that is used to support tactical operations. Being nearly identical to that which is employed by Napoleon, it is an attack used in the form of a bombardment. Essentially a compound skill that comes included with the effects of the Tactics skill.
-> APPRECIATION OF ARTS D
----> Is infatuation with works of art. If one happens to see a Noble Phantasm that possesses artistic anecdotes, there is a small chance that he or she might be able to figure out its true name. Aside from being a conqueror, Archer is most known for his literary genius. Turkish historians say his library included books on such topics as geometry, religion, engineering, astronomy, arithmetic, archaeology, geography, and philosophy. Known to be a poet, the conqueror also had a great interest in the arts, having commissioned Renaissance painter Bellini to do his portrait.
-> CONQUERORS PRIVILEGE B
----> An alternative form of Imperial Privilege. After his destruction of Constantinople, Archer proclaimed himself Caesar and by extension, emperor of Rome. Rather than attaining the privileges of an emperor simply through one's will alone, it is the acquisition of skills previously unpossessed through conquering. By killing an individual, Archer may make his out of what was theirs, taking their “privileges” (skills) for himself. This does not apply to class skills. Additionally, all skills acquired through conquering, if above the ranking of this skill, drop to meet its level.
-> TRIUMPHANT RETURN C
----> Active only after having successfully escaped and re-entered combat with a target, it is the strengthening of combative power equal to the number of times he has faced an opponent. Its effects cap at three and are represented by temporary plus modifiers, usable for any physical parameter aside from agility. The latter are conditionally effective only against the target in question. Another famous conquest of Archer’s was his siege of Venice. He was forced to retreat a total of five times, and each time he returned supposedly stronger than the last, with his fifth charge being his strongest.
Noble Phantasm(s):
Name: Osmanlı Topu: Bazilika
Rank: A (+)
Type: Anti-Fortress
Effects:
The man who created this great invention was just that, a man. Intelligent as he was, those around him lacked the ability to separate intelligence from madness. Thus, the grand plans for the creation of the Basilic were fated to never be realized. That was until The Great Eagle, Archer, laid eyes upon it. There was no fund he wouldn’t spare to ensure its creation and ensure its creation he did. Its creator, Orban, died shortly after its conception alongside all of his workers. Such was the power of the weapon that it killed him, such was its strength that it was said to be capable of destroying the walls of Babylon. Alongside an array of much smaller cannons, it proved to have what it took to destroy even Constantinople, which marked the fall of the Byzantine Empire.
As a noble phantasm, it materializes in the form of a large, cylindrical cannon, carried by Archer on his shoulders. As Archer’s main weapon, it is both his primary form of attack and the sole reason for his classification as Archer. Ordinarily, it is used to fire large, consecutive bombardments, even despite his naturally lower capacity of mana. To unleash its full power, Archer points his cannon to the sky, focusing his magical energy on a single point. After having called the phantasm's true name, Archer takes aim at his chosen target. If summoned in the Rider class, he materializes the entire cannon array used to lay siege to Constantinople, however, as he is in the Archer class container, only the main cannon, Basilic, is used. With an attack that possesses the conceptual power to “blast the walls of Babylon itself” nothing, not even the strongest of walls can hope to stand against the mad conquerors' stampede.
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Name: Matou Shinako
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Objective for the Grail: Pest Control
Command Seal:
Personality: Shinako is many things, and startling few of them are positive. She is narcissistic and self-obsessed, believing herself superior to her contemporaries. It is not enough for her to defeat her foes, whether they be true enemies or merely individuals she sees as competition. No, she must conquer them, see them utterly dominated and humiliated before her very eyes. She is hungry for power of any kind, and relishes in the opportunity to hold that power over others, vying for dominion in almost every aspect of her life, desperate to cling onto whatever small semblances of authority she can dig up. She engages in the heinous and debased not out of any greater philosophical purpose, or even for the acts themselves, but because she can. It makes her feel strong, powerful, in control. She has, for many years, suffered under the cruelty of another, and to cope, she enacts the very same acts of cruelty onto others, relishing in their agony and the fact that she is capable of inflicting such onto them.
It would be unbecoming of her to simply allow this ravenous, unquenchable desire be shown, however, so she has carefully cultivated a persona to mask this—in her every day life she is sweet and caring, if a bit domineering, always at the forefront of whatever group she finds herself in, masking the darkness within her heart with all the manipulative skill of her sire. But it is just that: a mask. True compassion is something she has never experienced before, and has little interest in pursuing, seeing it as a frivolity that she can neither afford nor abide by. A truly rotten individual to her core.
Bio: The latest scion of the Matou family, a spark among the dying embers of a once promising clan condemned to the indignation of decline. The heirs of the Matou had, for generations before her, increasingly lost their potency. Exiled from their homeland and rejected by the lands of Japan, it was their lot in life to dwindle entirely, until not a single trace of magic could be found among their descendants. In an attempt to staunch this inevitable decline, the patriarch of the Matou, a cunning man with knowledge far beyond his years, bartered with what influence he still had, and obtained suitable breeding fodder for his dying bloodline. It was through careful augmentation and manipulation of this woman—of Shinako's mother—that she came into the world healthy, strong, and most importantly, worthy of continuing on the family legacy.
From her earliest years, Shinako was trained at the knee of her grandfather, learning the secrets of their lineage's magecraft. To say it was unpleasant was an understatement. It was agonizing, horrifying, vile work. It drove her to the brink of madness countless times, rendering her down to the thinnest scraps of humanity again and again, barely giving her time to recover before doing it all over again. But it never broke her. She was strong, after all. She endured. Time and time again, after days and weeks in that infernal basement, in that hellish realm, she endured. It didn't matter what it was that kept he going. Strength of will, hatred for her forebearer, an animalistic desperation to live; none of it mattered. Not to him. All that mattered was the power of the heir, carefully tending the ember that was Matou Shinako to be a worthy heir to the Matou. In that, she unfortunately provided.
As she grew from child to teen, from teen to woman, the grueling work became less and less grueling. She was allowed, as an act of backhanded mercy, to live a normal life among her peers, to go out and learn of the world around them to better prepare for the battles to come, where she would finally realize the ambitions of her family's five hundred year dream. It was no mercy. She could never be normal. Not after all she had been through. But every day life proved to be an adequate outlet for the violence she felt within, and she had long since learned to be discrete with her desires, so her grandfather never had cause to deny her what little pleasure she found in existence.
Until the volcano erupted, harbinger of her time of reckoning—the Fourth Heaven's Feel.
Magic Circuit Switch: The sound of gnashing teeth
Number of Magic Circuits: B
Quality of Magic Circuits: B
Elemental Affinities: Imaginary Numbers, Water
Attributes: Absorption, Reinforcement
Origin: Consumption
Magecraft:
General Magecraft: Although not formally schooled at the Clocktower, Shinako received a comprehensive education under her grandfather, Matou Zouken, and therefore possesses all the cursory skills of a true Magi.
Absorption: The basis from which all Matou magecraft is derived. It is "the binding of things to one's self", the ability to consume that which is another's and use it for one's own purposes. It goes without saying, therefore, that this aspect of Shinako's magecraft is especially useful when employed against the brute force tactics of other Magi, turning their strength into her own.
Familiars: While Absorption may be the basis for the magecraft of the Matou family, the vector with which it is employed is through their familiars. Specially bred worms are the method through which Shinako's magecraft is employed, and combined with her unique elemental affinity, provide her with a dizzying array of familiars capable of a wide variety of tasks.
Bounded Fields: A particular specialization of Shinako herself. She prides herself in the strength and complexity of the Bounded Fields she is capable or raising. Using her familiars as the necessary catalyst, she is capable of rapidly raising complex barriers and dividing lines without the lengthy set up time usually required. By devouring the energy used to assail them, she can further reinforce their strength. As someone who herself feels trapped by circumstance, Shinako takes particular joy in sealing off every possible escape for her prey.
Number Space: A curiosity for most, this rare element has been carefully incorporated into Shinako's capabilities. It grants the possessor the ability to access the Imaginary Number Space, a plane different from the Material, where aspects such as time have no meaning. Primarily used as a "storage" space for her numberless familiars, it also imbues her magecraft with a peculiar potency against spiritual beings, while limiting its effectiveness against those of physical form. In combination with the Matou's fundamental aspect, to bind and absorb, it is possible to subsume these entities under the proper circumstances.
Crest: The result of five hundred years of ambition, the Matou family crest is not a simple sigil etched onto the skin of its wielder, but a living organism—a worm that lives within the flesh of the Magi. It feeds off the bearer's magical energy, and in return provokes the body to produce ever greater heights to sustain itself, functioning as an artificial circuit of sorts. The very magecraft of the Matou is contained within the worm, and by its torturous fusion with the host, it carves the knowledge of generations into their very nerves.
Weapon:
Shinako possesses a truly incomprehensible number of Crest Worm familiars, bred over countless years and stored safely within her number space, and in caches throughout Fuyuki. While the most ordinary of these is not particularly powerful, their sheer number can overwhelm unprepared or otherwise incapacitated foes. There are a number of more powerful varieties, however, bred for specific purposes. Some even form the basis of Mystic Codes, treasured tools used to further augment her effectiveness as a Magi.
The most notable of which are listed here.
Second Skin: A gelatinous organism formed from numerous Crest Worms, Second Skin serves the exact purpose for which it is named—it coats the user's body entirely, forming a secondary layer of protection. Fed directly by the user's magical energy, the malleable flesh of the Code hardens rapidly in response to harm, and while unlikely to do much against the weaponry fielded by Heroic Spirits, it provides consummate protection against mundane means of damage. When employed against enemy magecraft, it siphons off the very mana used to form means of attack, reinforcing itself against the effect in question to provide even greater heights of defense. As it is rather grotesque to look upon, Shinako usually restricts its cover to the portions of her body hidden beneath clothing.
Blade Wings: Carnivorous, flying insects that have been bred from the Matou's Crest Worms. They are fast, ravenous, and impeccably coordinated. Typically deployed in large swarms, they overwhelm their prey by attack from every direction simultaneously, stripping flesh from bone like winged piranhas. Shinako's primary combat familiar.
Death Worms: Huge, multi-segmented worms with massive, razor sharp mandibles and armored plating, these centipede-like creatures are Shinako's heavy hitters. She only has a handful of such creatures at any given point, as they are quite arduous to make, and so she deploys them only sparingly, using their powerful bodies to burrow beneath the battlefield and take her opponents by surprise. True combat familiars, befitting the expertise of the Matou.
Communicators: A specially bred worm with dozens of chitin plates across its body. In response to magical energy from its master, the worm will vibrate these plates synchronously, creating sound. They are complex enough to mimic human speech, and are used by Shinako to communicate at distance with orthodox Magi incapable of buying a Nokia.
Name: Jack the Ripper
Class: Berserker
Personality: Jack is, by all accounts, a very agreeable fellow. He is cordial, impeccably polite, and composed well beyond what one would attribute to a mad slasher contained within the Berserker container. That is, however, not to say that he is a total gentleman. As he is the very concept of the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, he is completely and utterly without scruples. To kill, maim, torture, devour, these things he approaches with the same dignified poise he embodies in all else. He will resort to whatever measures he deems necessary to achieve his goals, no matter how grotesque or underhanded those may be.
In regards to his Master, Jack is generally deferential, although he is certainly not above gently chiding them to see reason when they act in such a way as to jeopardize their shared goal. While it is not his desire, he will act against the wishes of his Master, but only when it becomes clear that doing so is the only way to ensure both the safety of his benefactor, and their assured victory. It should be noted that he is also particularly fond of female Masters, though whether that is a personal feeling, or simply an unfortunate quirk of his legend, is a mystery even to him.
While some Heroic Spirits may relish in the opportunity afforded by the Grail War, to once again do glorious battle, or to accomplish some long forgone dream they could not in life, Jack's goal is of a simpler sort. A mere amalgamation of the mythos surrounding Jack the Ripper, he simply desires truth—he wishes to know the true identity of the man behind the murders, and put to rest the speculation that led to his bizarre existence.
Stats:
Parameters are determined by current transformation
Strength: —
Endurance: —
Agility: —
Mana: —
Luck: —
Class Skills:
Madness Enhancement: —
Because Jack's fundamental attribute is madness, an inversion occurred during his summoning and this Skill is sealed. The seal, however, is extremely fragile.
Personal Skills:
Thousand Faces: A
As Jack the Ripper's true identity was never discovered, he is simultaneously nobody and everybody. This manifests as ability to transform oneself into any human occupation, animal or object that has been presented as the true identity of Jack the Ripper. The user is capable of making use of any Skills the target possesses, weakened to Rank E.
Wanderer of the Misty Night: A
Born from Jack's nature as a stalker of the night. Grants an equal rank of Presence Concealment as long as it is night. Ordinarily, this would only be applicable during night. However, as the conditions of current day Fuyuki match closely to the smog filled streets from which Jack's legend arose, the skill's applicability and potency have been increased.
Noble Phantasm(s):
Name: From Hell: Evil Fog Perishes With the London Dawn
Rank: A+ — E-
Type: Anti-Unit
Effects: Based on the theory that Jack the Ripper was a demon, this Noble Phantasm transforms Jack into a demon in the sense of a phantasmal species. Because it is rooted in the latent fear and unease of nearby people, its power changes in proportion to the population density within a radius of 5 km. In a desert wasteland, its strength is only equal to that of a large beast of prey. In an urban area, it displays a power equivalent to that of a Knight-class Servant.
Because it takes the form of a demon that humans envision as their own natural enemy, it inflicts particularly effective damage on humans.
Name: Natural Born Killers: That Is Not Worth the End of Tragedy
Rank: B
Type: Anti-Army
Effects: A Noble Phantasm based on the theory that Jack the Ripper was a group. Enables the creation of multiple bodies according to the Master's magical energy. The last remaining body automatically becomes the main body. It can also be said that every body is the main one. The maximum number depends on the quantity of the Master's magical energy. The number of bodies decreases in proportion to the strength of the entity transformed into.
Alignment: Neutral Evil
ManyThings
Member
Seen
6 mos ago
Rider
Theseus
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Sex: M
Attribute: Sky
Armaments: Staff and unarmed blows. In addition, it is possible to summon lengths of Ariadne's Thread as a tool in combat and for various other matters, including subtle binding and navigation. As a thread made from magical energy, it can be continuously unspooled even if sliced up.
Legend
One of the greatest legends of Greece, and an exceptional man known for a multitude of feats throughout his life. Born from a strange three-way union between King, God, and woman, Theseus accepted the challenge issued by his human father, choosing to travel a long and dangerous road to prove himself and take his place as a prince of Athens. He is best known for his battle against the Minotaur in the Labyrinth: when King Minos of Crete demanded children as sacrifices to be devoured by his monstrous son, young Theseus volunteered. By charming the King's daughter, Ariadne, he was able to secure a hidden method of navigating the impossible maze to slay the monster at its centre. Although in the end he found that that boy was no true monster at all.
That aside, there are various other adventures in which Theseus took part, including hunting a number of monsters, duelling with bandits, and even travelling as one of the great heroes on the Argo. Indeed, during that time, it was agreed by all adventurers on board that Theseus was the only one who was a match for the great Heracles in raw might. Later in life, those two became good friends, supporting one another on a number of occasions and even collaborating to found the martial art of Pankration--a set of techniques that represent the pinnacle of bare-handed destruction.
Personality
For Theseus, "danger" and "heroism" are two things that cannot be separated. He's a man who will suffer all sorts of implausible scenarios simply because it seems to be the right thing to do. He may sass, but he'll never complain, even if he's told to fight an unwinnable battle against all 6 enemy heroes at once. The sorry state of the land into which he's summoned has certainly darkened his mood, and so he ends up quietly giving off a sense of being displeased even when he's already accepted the way things are. Perhaps he's unconsciously searching for a thing that can improve his mood.
Despite having become the King of Athens in life, Theseus lacks the tendency to make any demands of his Master, perhaps because completing labours at the request of others is simply a part of the Greek Hero Lifestyle. Surprisingly, he can at times be a difficult Servant to control despite how quiet and amicable he often remains. It's a matter of "actions speak louder than words" as he sees no reason to argue with a mage when he can simply depart without warning to do what he chooses. The overwhelming purity and will of a hero will even require multiple Command Spells in cases where he detests an order.
Parameters
Strength: A
Endurance: C
Agility: B
Mana: C
Luck: D
Class Skills
Magic Resistance B: Protection against magecraft. An enemy spell with a chant of fewer than three verses will be negated. Higher-class magecraft will be substantially weakened to the point of scarcely doing any harm.
Riding -: Since Theseus generally prefers to walk or take a boat when needed, there's no particular talent for vehicles or beasts in this incarnation due to possessing "Voyage" instead.
Personal Skills
Divinity C-: Because his father was said to be Poseidon, Theseus possesses a high amount of Divinity. Certain divine protections may be broken by this Skill, but it otherwise serves only to mark the hero as a demigod. The rank is reduced as a result of legends of having both immortal and mortal fathers, but divine magical energy still swirls within his body.
Voyager of the Storm B-: Talent for managing a ship an crew, comprising the attributes of both Charisma and Military Tactics. Theseus was quite talented as a captain, as a ruler, and as a hero on the Argo, although he's a bit forgetful when it comes to minor things like putting up the right colour of sails.
Road to Athens A: A martial Skill earned through Theseus' journey along the treacherous coastal road towards Athens, during which he turned the tables on a series of six beings of the Underworld in battle. Essentially functions as an "instinct" in combat, unique to the hero. For Theseus, who travelled roads infested with dangerous enemies, it was critical to turn his opponent's resources against them. The "most fitting way" to defeat a foe will be naturally realized and mercilessly sought out. The "Club-Bearer" was beaten with his own weapon, the "Tree-Bender" was torn apart between bent trees, the "Cliff-Kicker" was pushed off a cliff, and so forth. A sixth sense to pursue victory along those lines, launching impossible counterattacks.
Bravery A+: Protection against various mental status effects, in addition to greatly increased damage in melee. Theseus, who was content to beat the daylights out of monsters and demigods even when he was unarmed, possesses an exceedingly high rank. In particular, Theseus boasts deadly power in regards to his use of Pankration.
Noble Phantasms
Koupiá Aiónia
Title: Ship of Endless Restoration
Rank: C+
Type: Anti-Unit
Range: 5~20
Targets: 1 Person
Description: The boat that Theseus travelled on during his adventures. Rather than gaining any special powers from legends involving Theseus, this Noble Phantasm is linked to a certain popular thought experiment that was performed regarding the remnants of the ship after his death. "If damaged parts are constantly replaced, will it truly be the same ship?"--This Noble Phantasm takes that question and runs with it. Although a ship naturally can be used for travel, it is primarily a defensive Noble Phantasm utilized by summoning parts of the hull in the way of incoming blows. Even if the ship is damaged or destroyed during defence, they will soon regrow, so it is terribly effective at blocking repeated or consistent attacks. Moreover, the concept of "becoming another ship through slow replacement" can be utilized to modify the nature of the new sections. In essence, the Ship of Theseus is a super-adaptable shield that can develop new functions by absorbing and processing the attacks that are fired into it. More damage suffered means a stronger replacement. By suffering enough flame attacks, for instance, it would probably become a fire-ship that excels at blocking fire damage while spouting out waves of fire itself. Something along those lines, anyway. Ramming attacks with the ship are possible, but a bit mediocre unless it has acquired an attribute that happens to be super-effective against the intended target.
Thálassa Kýrios Ará
Title: Sea God's Three Blessings
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-Unit
Range: Variable
Targets: Variable
Description: A unique ability of Theseus, stemming from an anecdote of him being given three Wishes (Curses) by his father, Poseidon. Uber-powerful Skill that can only ever be used three times. Rather than a true Wish of the kind that the Holy Grail can produce, this power is basically limited to personal strengthening/weakening (enhancement or disturbance of the self or another) and matters related to the Authorities of Poseidon (calling a tremendous sea monster, moving a body of water, etc).
In terms of power, it is enough to bring victory in an unwinnable fight. Each Wish supplies its own magical energy when used, so this Skill can even salvage a situation where magical energy is lacking. It is said that Theseus regrettably used this power against his own child later in life, wishing for his death and thus causing a sea monster to send his chariot crashing into the sea. Along those lines, the power of the wish is something that interferes with fate. Without high Luck, a curse from this Noble Phantasm will be extremely difficult to overcome.
Name: Arthur Pendragon
Class: Saber
Alignment: Lawful Good
Personality:
A righteous knight in shining armour as some might call him, Saber has a strong sense of justice. He strives to do good, dislikes underhanded tactics and isn't one to fight simply for fighting's sake. If he draws his blade, it's for a purpose. Once he chooses to fight however, he isn't one to back down. To this day, he remembers his resolve to defeat a certain beast, though he's unsure if it lingers still in this world.
In general, he's protective and loyal, readily following his Master's wishes and going to great lengths to ensure their wellbeing. To a degree, that is; he will not stand to see evil acts committed in his presence if he can help it. He's known to keep secrets, particularly about himself - but not to the extent he'd downright lie. There is also a more somber side to him, complete with hints of nihilism after everything he's seen and been through. He was once forced to strike down a person very dear to him, and he wants to make sure such a situation doesn't repeat. To that extent, he does his best to be a moral guide and keep his feelings at bay.
With that said, while normally somewhat formal, he does also have a playful, teasing side to him. It mostly comes out during more relaxed situations. He enjoys peaceful moments over good food in particular, but does find it difficult to relax if he feels his duties aren't fulfilled.
He has no wish for the Grail.
In general, he's protective and loyal, readily following his Master's wishes and going to great lengths to ensure their wellbeing. To a degree, that is; he will not stand to see evil acts committed in his presence if he can help it. He's known to keep secrets, particularly about himself - but not to the extent he'd downright lie. There is also a more somber side to him, complete with hints of nihilism after everything he's seen and been through. He was once forced to strike down a person very dear to him, and he wants to make sure such a situation doesn't repeat. To that extent, he does his best to be a moral guide and keep his feelings at bay.
With that said, while normally somewhat formal, he does also have a playful, teasing side to him. It mostly comes out during more relaxed situations. He enjoys peaceful moments over good food in particular, but does find it difficult to relax if he feels his duties aren't fulfilled.
He has no wish for the Grail.
Stats:
Strength: B+
Endurance: A
Agility: C
Mana: B
Luck: D
Endurance: A
Agility: C
Mana: B
Luck: D
Class Skills:
Magic Resistance (A): He, who is in the Saber Class, is in possession of a high-ranked Magical Resistance Skill. It is generally impossible for modern mages to inflict damage on him.
Riding (B): It is possible for one to operate all vehicles and beasts freely except for Magical Beasts, Phantasmal Beasts and Divine Beasts.
Riding (B): It is possible for one to operate all vehicles and beasts freely except for Magical Beasts, Phantasmal Beasts and Divine Beasts.
Personal Skills:
Mana Burst (A): He is endowed with an extremely high-ranked Mana Burst Skill.
Instinct (A): At Rank A, it is essentially in the realm of predicting the future. Through this ability, it is possible to negate the penalties inflicted by visual and auditory interference to a certain extent.
Giant Beast Hunt (A): King Arthur fought tirelessly against the many Demonic Beasts that tried to trample Britain. This skill shows that he is experienced in battles against giant creatures.
Instinct (A): At Rank A, it is essentially in the realm of predicting the future. Through this ability, it is possible to negate the penalties inflicted by visual and auditory interference to a certain extent.
Giant Beast Hunt (A): King Arthur fought tirelessly against the many Demonic Beasts that tried to trample Britain. This skill shows that he is experienced in battles against giant creatures.
Noble Phantasm(s):
Name: Excalibur Proto: Sword of Promised Victory
Rank: C-EX
Type: Anti-Fortress
Effects: A Divine Construct in the form of a golden sword, sealed by both Invisible Air and the Restraints of the Round Table. In the unlikely scenario that seven or more seals were released, the sword's true power as a Divine Construct to save the world would be released. Normally however, it's simply a powerful Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm capable of repelling evil with a powerful beam of light. Even without releasing its True Name, Excalibur is able to release its slash of light that varies in strength, but is weaker than its Anti-Fortress attack. However, it can be further enhanced in its destructive power by his Mana Burst Skill.
Name: Invisible Air
Rank: C
Type: Anti-Unit
Effects: A sheath of wind that covers Excalibur and conceals its true identity, so that it and its wielder cannot be identified too easily. It is made up of multiple layers of wind, which distorts the refraction of light and renders what is inside completely invisible. The air constantly whirling around the blade is essentially a weapon, but lacks the capacity to annihilate the enemy like Excalibur. The wind increases the damage and cutting power of an attack however, and provides for an increased accuracy and defense against opponents unfamiliar with the nature of the weapon. It is possible to implement the barrier on something other than the sword as well, such as a quick defensive wall of wind, which can be kept active with magical energy for a number of minutes. Invisible Air also acts as one of Excalibur's seals.
Rank: C-EX
Type: Anti-Fortress
Effects: A Divine Construct in the form of a golden sword, sealed by both Invisible Air and the Restraints of the Round Table. In the unlikely scenario that seven or more seals were released, the sword's true power as a Divine Construct to save the world would be released. Normally however, it's simply a powerful Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm capable of repelling evil with a powerful beam of light. Even without releasing its True Name, Excalibur is able to release its slash of light that varies in strength, but is weaker than its Anti-Fortress attack. However, it can be further enhanced in its destructive power by his Mana Burst Skill.
Name: Invisible Air
Rank: C
Type: Anti-Unit
Effects: A sheath of wind that covers Excalibur and conceals its true identity, so that it and its wielder cannot be identified too easily. It is made up of multiple layers of wind, which distorts the refraction of light and renders what is inside completely invisible. The air constantly whirling around the blade is essentially a weapon, but lacks the capacity to annihilate the enemy like Excalibur. The wind increases the damage and cutting power of an attack however, and provides for an increased accuracy and defense against opponents unfamiliar with the nature of the weapon. It is possible to implement the barrier on something other than the sword as well, such as a quick defensive wall of wind, which can be kept active with magical energy for a number of minutes. Invisible Air also acts as one of Excalibur's seals.
“In my eyes, the price I paid for love is worse than this war will ever be”
True Name: Ariadne
Titles: Keeper of the Minotaur, Lady of the Labyrinth, Princess of Crete
Gender: Female
Class: Caster
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Titles: Keeper of the Minotaur, Lady of the Labyrinth, Princess of Crete
Gender: Female
Class: Caster
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Personality: Ariadne can come across as shy and timid at times. This isn't due to a lack of confidence, but a lack of words. Often things she says or does can be misinterpreted as she lacks communication skills, a fact she isn't happy with but has found impossible to change. That being said, she has two sides to her. The innocent lamb waiting for slaughter, and then the wolf.
While she doesn't exactly have multiple personality disorder, it'd be safe for one to assume so. As if there is the second half of her, to defend the half that can't defend itself. Sometimes an insult or a snide remark will come out of seemingly nowhere to save the day. Once Ariadne has formed a bond with someone, it's very hard for her to form a bond with anyone else. She gets something of an obsession, be it a romantic one or not. It can be almost stalkerish at times and if someone was to threaten "her person" or attempt to harm them in any way, she wouldn't hesitate to hold back.
Outwardly, she is a rose not without her thorns. A beautiful girl hiding a terrible beast who maybe, just maybe, can earn the love of someone who for once, loves her back.
Biography: Ariadne was born the daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae, effectively making her the princess of Crete. Sadly this title granted her little to no power and she was far from next in line for the throne, nor was she her father's favorite. No. That title belonged to her blood-brother, Androgeus. He seemed to do everything perfectly, a master with a sword and bow, he could long jump farther and throw a javelin until it could no longer be seen. The princess of Crete found it to be incredibly unfair, that they had the same parents yet possessed none of the same skills.
Fortunately, her jealousy was taken care of in that year's Panathenaic Games, and she was not the only one green with envy. The Athens disliked the boy's athleticism, nor did they like his charm and charisma. He had traits that would make him a powerful leader and a potential enemy. The Athens cheated in the game and managed to slay Androgeus, thinking it would spare them a terrible future. They were wrong. When one door closes, a window opens. Enraged by the death of his favorite child, Minos deemed that once every year, Athens would send seven men and seven women to wander the labyrinth underneath his palace and act as sacrifices for the Cretian royal pet. The minotaur. A half-bull, half-human creature that was born from the union of Ariadne's mother and a bull.
Ariadne was the only one who shed no tears for her brother's downfall, automatically giving her the short stick. Now she wasn't just a princess but was the keeper of the minotaur, and every year it was her task to ensure he is fed all fourteen tributes. It was here that the princess met a prince known as Theseus. He managed to seduce Ariadne, causing her to give him a magical thread that would act as a guide and lead him through the unsolvable maze. He promised that after he slew the minotaur, he would come back for Ariadne and they would be wed. She had confided in him the deepest darkest secret of her life, that it was her responsible for the murder of Androgeus. That she had arranged it to happen. She regretted it the minute she saw his blood, but there was nothing she could do. It was reassuring to hear that Theseus did not care, but his actions showed otherwise. He successfully killed the bull but as Ariadne waited, waited, and waited some more... he never returned.
Once Crete heard the news that the minotaur was dead and the precious Athen prince was alive, they blamed none other than Ariadne. Not only had her love been cast aside, but her heart was also manipulated like a puppet. Her own kingdom now considered her treasonous, a criminal to the crown which she wore. One would expect parents to be forgiving of their daughter, but they were not. Rumors echoed from every corner of Greece that Ariadne not only murdered her own brother, but that she, herself, was the minotaur. Theseus would get his revenge, after all, it was Ariadne's actions that caused his people so much heartache. Now it was her turn.
Strength: D
Endurance: D
Agility: C
Mana: A
Luck: A
Class Skills:
- Territory Creation (A)
Due to the betrayal of Theseus after Ariadne's role in slaying the minotaur, it became her sole purpose to enact revenge. Thus allowing her to recreate the minotaur's original prison: a labyrinth. Not just any ordinary labyrinth, one that changes and morphs. Plays tricks on the mind, illusions to deceive you and lead you further into the labyrinth. Once a prison, always a prison.
A 'Temple', which is superior to a 'Workshop', may be established, boosting capabilities to a great degree. Requires a great deal of time to establish. May be declared with the staff and added to your profile as a permanent location for the Caster.
While inside the territory, all of Ariadne's parameters are increased by one rank, to a maximum of A, further Ariadne's mana recovery is improved allowing her to survive three days and three nights longer without a master inside it. The territory itself is self-aware and capable of changing the labyrinth's paths to prevent cheaters. When summoned, Ariadne marks out her territory with a magic thread, one that is endless and knows no bounds. Once mapped, the labyrinth will materialize. Due to the labyrinth's magical nature, it is capable of turning even the smallest of spaces into a seemingly endless maze. Opening the door to something as minimal as a cottage can entrap you in the minotaur's coil. No matter where the maze is set up, it is still the same. An endless maze in which no one escapes.
A ghost from the past, whether it be human or memory, is resurrected in the form of an illusion for anyone who enters the labyrinth. The 'ghost' is only seen by who it affects and is meant to deceive, stray wanderers away from caster and her master's location
Item Construction (C)
Ariadne once wielded items that assisted her and her lover, Theseus, out of the minotaur's labyrinth. Her ability to craft items is similar to how she managed to lead them out of the labyrinth; by weaving various items out of a magical thread. From a new set of magical resistant clothes to swords and shields, it's no wonder she was often labeled as a weaving goddess.
Ariadne is a weaving 'goddess' and therefore can create various types of woven clothes and jewelry. All of which provide various different effects when worn.
Minotaur's Spool
Ordinarily, a golden ball of thread Ariadne created to help Theseus find his way out of the labyrinth. While no longer needed in the age of cellphones and maps, the ball of thread serves another purpose. Capable of unraveling several meters long, it turns into a golden whip. When used, the whip can dispel and destroy any magecraft. Due to its history of being bestowed upon others, it can be freely given to others and work at maximum capacity.
Crown of Crete
As a representation of her princess status, Ariadne can create the Crown of Crete. Golden and sparkly, the crown grants the wearer the ability to absorb magical attacks. However, crowns are built to last, but like silver or copper, it can rust. After wearing the crown for 3 posts, the headpiece will start to rust and break, leaving the wearer susceptible to attacks once more. The Crown of Crete can only withstand small magical attacks, charged ones will crack and break the crown much faster.
Ordinarily, a golden ball of thread Ariadne created to help Theseus find his way out of the labyrinth. While no longer needed in the age of cellphones and maps, the ball of thread serves another purpose. Capable of unraveling several meters long, it turns into a golden whip. When used, the whip can dispel and destroy any magecraft. Due to its history of being bestowed upon others, it can be freely given to others and work at maximum capacity.
Crown of Crete
As a representation of her princess status, Ariadne can create the Crown of Crete. Golden and sparkly, the crown grants the wearer the ability to absorb magical attacks. However, crowns are built to last, but like silver or copper, it can rust. After wearing the crown for 3 posts, the headpiece will start to rust and break, leaving the wearer susceptible to attacks once more. The Crown of Crete can only withstand small magical attacks, charged ones will crack and break the crown much faster.
Personal Skills:
- Innocent Monster (A)
With Ariadne's guidance, Theseus had slain her brother, the minotaur; she had fallen in love with the so-called hero, but he did not love her. Knowing that leaving Ariadne within the labyrinth would have her charged for treason, he did worse. To ensure that she wouldn't follow him. Rumors spread within the island of Crete, whispers about the minotaur's true appearance, the form of a beautiful woman they called princess. Fearing that these rumors were true, Ariadne was locked in golden shackles. The same ones that held her brother captive for so many years. From then on, the labyrinth, the minotaur, was no longer Crete's problem. It was Ariadne's.
An attribute possessed by Servants whose true history and existence have been distorted by the monstrous reputations and gossips they accrued across the course of their life and thereafter, without concern for the actual person's will or appearance. As a consequence, the Servant's abilities and appearance have been rendered to conform to the specifications of their legend. This Personal Skill cannot be removed. The higher the rank, the greater the distortion and the greater the effect.
The distortion is so all-encompassing that Ariadne’s body (parameters, visual changes) and abilities (skills) are twisted to fit it, gaining skills she did not have in life. Seeing a monstrous Noble Phantasm that she did not have in life.
Divine Words of Weaving (B)
A skill better known as Fate Weaver. Determining the fates of those around her with useful tools encased in spells from the Age of Gods. While Ariadne is known for providing Theseus with the thread that led him out of the labyrinth, she was also the one who assisted him in defeating the minotaur. If it weren't for her magical thread woven into traps, Theuses' head would be mounted on the wall and not the half-man half-bull abomination.
This skill allows Ariadne to create a golden thread from her fingertips. The thread can be used in elaborate traps to capture, strangle, or cut enemies. The strength of the thread is proportional to its length: a thread long enough to circle the world and back would be as thin as cotton, but a thread no longer than a meter would be able to lift a ton. Ariadne's thread is very durable, unable to be cut or torn by ordinary means.
Monstrous Strength (A+)
Ariadne is a woman scorned, and hell hath no fury. Rumors spoken about her in life have granted her this skill, the ability to have immaculate strength if she so desires. A manifestation of her anger and resentment for the myth that bounds her.
A Skill that temporarily grants a rank-up to one's Strength parameter for a time limit determined by the ranking of this Skill. This Skill is borne from the holder's nature as a monster or Demonic Beast. It can be granted to those who have Innocent Monster Skill. In case of rank-up causing to give a + modifier, it needs to be specified in the Effect and Extra Info on which actions the modifier is applied.
Justifies a modifier on STR stat, allows a rank-up on STR stat for 5 posts duration and 2 posts cooldown. If canceled earlier, the cooldown is 1 post if the duration was 2 posts.
Increases strength to A+ when NP Beast Of Betrayal: Sister Of The Minotaur is used, A+ when Ariadne becomes angered.
Noble Phantasm(s):
- Minotaur's Golden Restraints: Shackles of a Foul Beast (B) Anti-Unit
A set of reinforced golden shackles that kept a beast locked beneath the castle of Crete. They were the only thing keeping the minotaur from setting out on a rampage. Each link represented a year trapped in the labyrinth, though no matter how long the links grew, the minotaur never escaped. There were many times the minotaur tried to free himself from his imprisonment, but each method of escape failed. Cutting or breaking his shackles did no good and simply reinforced themselves, coming back stronger with each attempt.
By utilizing the same shackles that bound the minotaur, Ariadne can use them on any magical being to prohibit the use of their magecraft or skills. Once placed on an enemy, the shackles become invisible to anyone but Ariadne herself. They put mages on an ordinary human level, unable to use magecraft. While servants are reduced to just a fraction of their power.
These chains do not restrict a person, they restrict a person's abilities. Once one of the summoned golden chains has successfully wrapped around a target, it greatly limits them.
For masters, this would mean denying them access to their magic circuits and effectively not allowing them to cast spells.
For servants, however, it is capable of locking Noble Phantasms of equal or lesser rank regardless of modifiers applied. Though there are a few exceptions, it works on practically any Noble Phantasm. In the case that the NP in question is a weapon, if it was a sword it wouldn't allow itself to be swung like a bow would not allow itself to be drawn back. The chains can be lifted by Ariadne's defeat, or if she so commands.
Beast of Betrayal: Sister of The Minotaur (A) Anti-Unit, Self
Betrayal is powerful, it changes a person and forces them to assume a certain role. With the minotaur dead and Ariadne charged for treason, Crete had nothing to instill fear into the hearts of their rivals in Athens. It was only fair that a trade-off was made: Ariadne, The Keeper of The Minotaur, assumed her brother's place inside the labyrinth. After all, Theseus painted her in the light of the bone-chilling Minotaur.
His words sprung to life and once Ariadne was shackled and locked within the labyrinth an overwhelming rage consumed her and her former timid nature was replaced with the exact opposite. Horns, hooves, and fiery eyes.
Beast of Betrayal turns Ariadne into what everyone thought her to be. A monster. This essentially transforms her into the minotaur from her myth, causing her mana and strength stat to trade places for as long as the transformation lasts. (Strength is now that of a Phantasmal Beast, Mana is now D). This is justifiable due to both Innocent Monster and Monstrous Strength, two personal skills Ariadne possesses.
This form increases her strength dramatically, but makes her something of a glass cannon; resembling a Berserker. She can still speak, but her ability to think can be clouded and she's prone to making mistakes. She does not feel the injuries she receives in this form until she reverts back, causing her to feel immense pain and often need healing.
When creating Ariadne I decided to twist her story into something unexpected to add flavor and originality! In this variation, she is not Theseus' puppet and damsel, she becomes a monster and for that, she is locked away in the place of the minotaur. Ariadne doesn't get whisked away by Dionysus but spends her days roaming the winding halls of the labyrinth.
Name: Mari Yamamoto (originally Maya Norgaard)
Titles: She doesn't have enough renown to be granted titles
Gender: Female
Age: 22
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Objective for the Grail: Her wish is to no longer be wrapped up in the dangerous world of magic. Whether that means she wishes to rid the whole world of magic, or simply remove her own crest and circuits, she does not know yet.
Command Seal:
Personality:
At heart, Mari is an easygoing, positive person. She's sociable and loves to laugh, even if it's at her own expense - after all, god knows she's bit of a scatterbrain, and not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. She can be surprisingly blunt, mostly because she speaks before she thinks. But while Mari's no hero, she is a decent person; if someone needs help and it doesn't endanger her, she'll offer help readily and without asking for anything in return. Mari likes to daydream, and frequently talks to herself - especially whenever she needs to hype herself up, which has been tragically often as of late. She's meticulous about her appearance, and loves to pamper herself.
Mari has never been a particularly ambitious or hardworking person, nor one that takes competitions of any sort too seriously. It's not that she's lazy, she's just always been content with life's simple pleasures, and hasn't had the need to push herself out of her comfort zone. Winning has never been a big deal, as long as everyone had fun. Until recently, of course. The turmoil of recent events has left her far more stressed and anxious a person than she used to be, but it has also made her more determined and hardened. She still doesn't like the idea of hurting anyone, but she has to win her wish, and she can't exactly let others get in the way of that. Just... if they could give up when asked nicely, that'd be really cool, you know?
Mari has never been a particularly ambitious or hardworking person, nor one that takes competitions of any sort too seriously. It's not that she's lazy, she's just always been content with life's simple pleasures, and hasn't had the need to push herself out of her comfort zone. Winning has never been a big deal, as long as everyone had fun. Until recently, of course. The turmoil of recent events has left her far more stressed and anxious a person than she used to be, but it has also made her more determined and hardened. She still doesn't like the idea of hurting anyone, but she has to win her wish, and she can't exactly let others get in the way of that. Just... if they could give up when asked nicely, that'd be really cool, you know?
Bio:
From the age of five up until recently, Mari's life was mundane enough not to warrant elaboration. She grew up in a middle class family, had friends, did decently in school, and most recently started to work part-time in a coffee shop alongside her university studies. For the longest time, her biggest problem was trying to juggle studying, work and social life, and her biggest wish was to get a cat - one of those breeds that don't cause allergies. To her, the name Norgaard meant nothing.
But she meant a lot to the Norgaards. Though few in number and on the brink of being wiped from history, they are an old family of magi with a questionable reputation. They originated from Northern Europe, with a family tradition of galdrar, divination (seiðr, as they themselves call it) and, if rumours were to be believed, experimentation with magic circuit transplantation.
Twenty two years ago, Mari was born into their midst - though at the time, she went by Maya. She was to be the heir of Norgaards' magical knowledge, and her parents wasted no time in starting the engraving and training process to make her such. They never managed to finish what they started, however. Theirs was a family of ill repute, and shortly after Maya had turned five, a divination practitioner of the family received a disturbing vision; their mansion was to be attacked in a matter of hours, the whole family wiped out by disgruntled rivals.
Wanting to hide their heir, the Norgaards used magic to seal Maya's memories and arranged for her to be sent to safety. Only, the carriage was attacked on the way. Though the Norgaards were not entirely wiped out, many of their members died or disappeared voluntarily, and Maya ended up in an orphanage with no known relatives left to care for her. It was the Norgaards' intent to come get her once it was safe to do so, but much to their misfortune, she was adopted by a half-Japanese couple - who then subsequently moved back to Japan. Her adoptive mother was a therapist, and worked hard to try and cure her of her amnesia, but to no avail. Though she remembered her first name and basic life skills, she had no recollection of her birth family - just as the sealing magic dictated.
And so, Mari lived a happy, normal life.
That was, until two years ago, her past caught up with her. She found strange people at her door, demanding her to come with them. She refused, of course, but it mattered little. She was dragged away, the seal on her memories lifted, and her family threatened if she did not cooperate. It was then, on that dark autumn night, that she learnt of the existence of magic, magus, and her supposed fate as an heir to a family of them. She was forced to undergo training and the crest was finished forcibly - leading to one complication after another. Mari struggled, fought and argued, but threats towards her parents always quelled her anger.
It was during those torturous times that a volcanic eruption shook the country. In the midst of the chaos that ensued, few were surprised even if they happened to see her uncharacteristically depressed, tired or difficult to reach.
Recently, she was told of a war, and that she was supposed to win it. To wish upon the Holy Grail and restore their family to its previous glory. For once, Mari agreed. After all, she, too, had a wish - but it was not in the Norgaards' favor.
But she meant a lot to the Norgaards. Though few in number and on the brink of being wiped from history, they are an old family of magi with a questionable reputation. They originated from Northern Europe, with a family tradition of galdrar, divination (seiðr, as they themselves call it) and, if rumours were to be believed, experimentation with magic circuit transplantation.
Twenty two years ago, Mari was born into their midst - though at the time, she went by Maya. She was to be the heir of Norgaards' magical knowledge, and her parents wasted no time in starting the engraving and training process to make her such. They never managed to finish what they started, however. Theirs was a family of ill repute, and shortly after Maya had turned five, a divination practitioner of the family received a disturbing vision; their mansion was to be attacked in a matter of hours, the whole family wiped out by disgruntled rivals.
Wanting to hide their heir, the Norgaards used magic to seal Maya's memories and arranged for her to be sent to safety. Only, the carriage was attacked on the way. Though the Norgaards were not entirely wiped out, many of their members died or disappeared voluntarily, and Maya ended up in an orphanage with no known relatives left to care for her. It was the Norgaards' intent to come get her once it was safe to do so, but much to their misfortune, she was adopted by a half-Japanese couple - who then subsequently moved back to Japan. Her adoptive mother was a therapist, and worked hard to try and cure her of her amnesia, but to no avail. Though she remembered her first name and basic life skills, she had no recollection of her birth family - just as the sealing magic dictated.
And so, Mari lived a happy, normal life.
That was, until two years ago, her past caught up with her. She found strange people at her door, demanding her to come with them. She refused, of course, but it mattered little. She was dragged away, the seal on her memories lifted, and her family threatened if she did not cooperate. It was then, on that dark autumn night, that she learnt of the existence of magic, magus, and her supposed fate as an heir to a family of them. She was forced to undergo training and the crest was finished forcibly - leading to one complication after another. Mari struggled, fought and argued, but threats towards her parents always quelled her anger.
It was during those torturous times that a volcanic eruption shook the country. In the midst of the chaos that ensued, few were surprised even if they happened to see her uncharacteristically depressed, tired or difficult to reach.
Recently, she was told of a war, and that she was supposed to win it. To wish upon the Holy Grail and restore their family to its previous glory. For once, Mari agreed. After all, she, too, had a wish - but it was not in the Norgaards' favor.
Magic Circuits:
Switch: The smell of blood
Number of Magic Circuits: B
Quality of Magic Circuits: A
Number of Magic Circuits: B
Quality of Magic Circuits: A
Elemental Affinity:
Aether
Magecraft:
General Magecraft - Mari knows the basics - the very basics, and still occasionally needs revision.
Galdrar - Rite-like spells used for various purposes in the past, including easing childbirth, creating storms and blunting blades. Unfortunately, Mari has mostly been taught harmful, curse-like variations, which she's reluctant to use. Her curses require incantations and either something belonging to the target, or a direct line of sight to them. Her curses mostly focus on affecting the mind; bringing about bouts of fear, madness, paranoia or other such altered form of consciousness, or simply affecting the mood to a hindering degree. The exact nature depends on the target, and tends to focus on enhancing already existing negative traits, emotions, beliefs or mental issues. The duration depends on how much mana she uses and how susceptible the target is, and varies from a few minutes to a few hours.
She's also capable of tampering with equipment; dulling blades and softening armour somewhat, as is tradition with galdrar. However this requires direct contact with them, and is therefore extremely risky to use.
One form of galdrar is gandr, which was among the first spells Mari was taught. Her shots aren't strong enough to be considered bullets, nor can they pierce bone. She is able to fire them very rapidly however, and they do hurt when landed on vital spots. If nothing else, they're quite a painful distraction.
Seiðr - Magic far older than Mari's family lineage, it was rediscovered by her ancestors a few hundred years ago. The magic is focused around telling and reshaping the future. Not something to be used on the spot, preparing a divination session takes time and energy, and leaves the user vulnerable; after all, if one is gazing into the future, they cannot see the present. One also cannot feel their body during these sessions, and therefore being injured in the midst of one could easily prove fatal.
Mari is able to see glimpses of things to come within a twenty four hour period, but what she sees varies greatly. Usually, she strives to focus her mind's eye with some sort of a catalyst; blood from a person who's future she wants to read, a picture of a place, a vividly imagined scenario she wants to know the likelihood of. The better the catalyst, the clearer the vision. Either way, she cannot directly alter the future through her visions like the ancient shamans could, and they serve purely as a means of reconnaissance. If she wants to change what she saw in a vision, she must do it the old fashioned way.
Galdrar - Rite-like spells used for various purposes in the past, including easing childbirth, creating storms and blunting blades. Unfortunately, Mari has mostly been taught harmful, curse-like variations, which she's reluctant to use. Her curses require incantations and either something belonging to the target, or a direct line of sight to them. Her curses mostly focus on affecting the mind; bringing about bouts of fear, madness, paranoia or other such altered form of consciousness, or simply affecting the mood to a hindering degree. The exact nature depends on the target, and tends to focus on enhancing already existing negative traits, emotions, beliefs or mental issues. The duration depends on how much mana she uses and how susceptible the target is, and varies from a few minutes to a few hours.
She's also capable of tampering with equipment; dulling blades and softening armour somewhat, as is tradition with galdrar. However this requires direct contact with them, and is therefore extremely risky to use.
One form of galdrar is gandr, which was among the first spells Mari was taught. Her shots aren't strong enough to be considered bullets, nor can they pierce bone. She is able to fire them very rapidly however, and they do hurt when landed on vital spots. If nothing else, they're quite a painful distraction.
Seiðr - Magic far older than Mari's family lineage, it was rediscovered by her ancestors a few hundred years ago. The magic is focused around telling and reshaping the future. Not something to be used on the spot, preparing a divination session takes time and energy, and leaves the user vulnerable; after all, if one is gazing into the future, they cannot see the present. One also cannot feel their body during these sessions, and therefore being injured in the midst of one could easily prove fatal.
Mari is able to see glimpses of things to come within a twenty four hour period, but what she sees varies greatly. Usually, she strives to focus her mind's eye with some sort of a catalyst; blood from a person who's future she wants to read, a picture of a place, a vividly imagined scenario she wants to know the likelihood of. The better the catalyst, the clearer the vision. Either way, she cannot directly alter the future through her visions like the ancient shamans could, and they serve purely as a means of reconnaissance. If she wants to change what she saw in a vision, she must do it the old fashioned way.
Crest:
The Norgaard family's crest is engraved onto her back. There is conflicting information as to when the family was founded, but it's said their forefathers are from the time of the Kalmar Union.
Weapon:
She has no weapons to speak of, but has taken some rudimentary martial arts classes and is, at the very least, very nimble.
Name: Shane O’Laughlin Fraga
Title(s): The Runaway Fraga
Appearance:
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Alignment: Chaotic neutral
Objective for the Grail: To make his family stop searching for him
Command Seal:
Personality: A somewhat skittish person by nature Shane has developed an almost unhealthy amount of paranoia believing that his clan could come to collect him at any moment or worse. He talks in a polite manner and tries to make a good impresión in others while keeping his distance in case they end up being some sort of assassin sent by his clan.
Bio: The current holder of the sorcery trait of the Fraga family, he was never supposed to be the one to inherit it being a member of a branch family, but due a quirk of fate when the previous holder died he automatically became the current user to the displeasure of several others members of the family, it was due to this that his training was affected and the end result is him taking twice as much time and effort making the noble phantasm associated with the bloodline
An increasing amount of hostilities and inner clan politics led to him escaping his family compound and leaving the country to seek his fortune on other lands.
Eventually he managed to get an apartment and a job as a barista in a local cafe which he has been doing for the last three years, however fate isn’t done with him, seeing that the city he ended up in is currently the one holding a Holy Grail War.
Magic Circuit Switch: An X shape being burned on his skin.
Number of Magic Circuits: Rank B
Quality of Magic Circuits: Rank C
Elemental Affinity: Earth and Wind.
Magecraft:
Basic Magecraft knowledge: Shane was raised in a Magus household and as such he was teached the basics spells and practices.
Rune magecraft: As a Fraga Shane received a thorough education in runes and their effects as well as the school of thinking that other Fraga use. (Empowerment focus)
The list of runes he knows is: FEHU, THURISAZ, URUZ, ANSUZ, RAIDHO, KENAZ, GEBO, WUNJO, NAUDHIZ, HAGALAZ, EIHWAZ, ISA, JERA, PERTHRO, ELHAZ, TIWAZ, SOWILO, BERKANO, EHWAZ, MANNAZ, LAGUZ, INGWAZ, DAGAZ, OTHALA.
Bounded Field specialization: As all other focuses were being considered 'volatile' for the political climate he endured at the time he ended taking a branch of magecraft that was considerated safer, this is ironically enough one of the two main reasons how he managed to escape.
Crest: Doesn’t have the family crest
Weapon:
• Altóir bacainn: A mystic code left behind by one of his ancestors centouries before and considered one of the treasures of the Fraga clan, Shane came into possession of it as a means to escape his family. This device functions by letting the user interact with a focal point of a bounded field and allowing them to alterate or add to the basic framework of said bounded field, it has the look of an ancient book clad in leather.
• Modified ink well and brush: An enhanced pair of mystic codes, the ink well possesses a greater carrying capacity that it’s size should have and the brush is connected to it allowing Shane to paint without having to connect the two
Title(s): The Runaway Fraga
Appearance:
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Alignment: Chaotic neutral
Objective for the Grail: To make his family stop searching for him
Command Seal:
Personality: A somewhat skittish person by nature Shane has developed an almost unhealthy amount of paranoia believing that his clan could come to collect him at any moment or worse. He talks in a polite manner and tries to make a good impresión in others while keeping his distance in case they end up being some sort of assassin sent by his clan.
Bio: The current holder of the sorcery trait of the Fraga family, he was never supposed to be the one to inherit it being a member of a branch family, but due a quirk of fate when the previous holder died he automatically became the current user to the displeasure of several others members of the family, it was due to this that his training was affected and the end result is him taking twice as much time and effort making the noble phantasm associated with the bloodline
An increasing amount of hostilities and inner clan politics led to him escaping his family compound and leaving the country to seek his fortune on other lands.
Eventually he managed to get an apartment and a job as a barista in a local cafe which he has been doing for the last three years, however fate isn’t done with him, seeing that the city he ended up in is currently the one holding a Holy Grail War.
Magic Circuit Switch: An X shape being burned on his skin.
Number of Magic Circuits: Rank B
Quality of Magic Circuits: Rank C
Elemental Affinity: Earth and Wind.
Magecraft:
Basic Magecraft knowledge: Shane was raised in a Magus household and as such he was teached the basics spells and practices.
Rune magecraft: As a Fraga Shane received a thorough education in runes and their effects as well as the school of thinking that other Fraga use. (Empowerment focus)
The list of runes he knows is: FEHU, THURISAZ, URUZ, ANSUZ, RAIDHO, KENAZ, GEBO, WUNJO, NAUDHIZ, HAGALAZ, EIHWAZ, ISA, JERA, PERTHRO, ELHAZ, TIWAZ, SOWILO, BERKANO, EHWAZ, MANNAZ, LAGUZ, INGWAZ, DAGAZ, OTHALA.
Bounded Field specialization: As all other focuses were being considered 'volatile' for the political climate he endured at the time he ended taking a branch of magecraft that was considerated safer, this is ironically enough one of the two main reasons how he managed to escape.
Crest: Doesn’t have the family crest
Weapon:
• Altóir bacainn: A mystic code left behind by one of his ancestors centouries before and considered one of the treasures of the Fraga clan, Shane came into possession of it as a means to escape his family. This device functions by letting the user interact with a focal point of a bounded field and allowing them to alterate or add to the basic framework of said bounded field, it has the look of an ancient book clad in leather.
• Modified ink well and brush: An enhanced pair of mystic codes, the ink well possesses a greater carrying capacity that it’s size should have and the brush is connected to it allowing Shane to paint without having to connect the two
GM
FatPrincess Wicked Witch
Member
Seen
3 mos ago
Name: Dorothy Gale
Title: Witchslayer
Class: Assassin
Place of Origin: Kansas
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 110 lbs
Personality: No matter the situation, Assassin will always stand up for what she deems is right. Despite her fragile demeanor and general dislike of violence, she understands why she has been summoned and has, for the most part, accepted it. She enjoys developing relationships and getting to know others, wanting to build a bond with her master no matter who they may be. She is very aware that in order to be a “good” mage, you must have loose morals and it is a practice she frowns upon. That is why she has no trouble utilizing her Noble Phantasm.
Assassin believes that a person is innocent until proven guilty, she will often give someone a warning or an opportunity to change before acting. Perhaps going against what she leads other people to believe, she has a secret fondness for killing evil-doers and enjoys playing the role of hero perhaps a little too much.
Her wish for the grail is for people to believe her story as real, not merely fiction as it’s been recorded.
Biography: Does life imitate art? No. Art imitates life.
What most people do not know is that Dorothy Gale was a real girl, whisked away from her Kansas farmhouse into a magical world unlike any other. Within the Land of Oz she faced impossible tasks and met a multitude of friends, all in her journey to return home. Upon her arrival back to Kansas, news of her story spread quickly; though to most it was nothing more than an attention-starved child spouting countless lies.
These so-called lies drew the attention of Frank L. Baum who sat down extensively with Dorothy and eventually published her story into the one we know and love today, creating many more after that. What angered Dorothy is the fact that her story was published as fiction, despite the events she faced being very much real. Naturally that sparked outrage and retaliation in the plucky young woman, causing the Clocktower to intervene.
Looking into the history of Misses Gale the Clocktower discovered news about her past; specifically her parents abandonment of magecraft. A crime against the mage's association; punishable by death. Anyone who posed a legitimate threat to the mystery of the world would be taken care of and some brazen little wanna-be magus was no exception.
A tornado once again hit that small farm in Kansas and this time Dorothy was not spirited away to a magical land. She was gone. For good. Until now that is…
Stats
Strength: D
Endurance: D
Agility: C++
Mana: B
Luck: A
Class Skills:
Espionage: D
Assassin is not a cold-blooded killer like those who share her class. She never once lurked in the shadows and waited for the right moment to strike. She was merely an innocent girl thwarted into an unknown world, doing what she had to in order to get back home. Therefore, presence concealment is beyond her capabilities. Instead, she is seen just as her story describes. A harmless pigtailed delinquent.
Personal Skills:
Protection of the Good Witch: A
No one will dare injure a person who has been kissed by the Witch of the North. Those who wish to harm Assassin will find themselves thinking twice about the consequences and or giving up completely if they lack the necessary resistance.
Executioner C
Throughout her journey in the magical Land of Oz, Assassin was responsible for the reprimanding of several evil-doers and therefore does more damage against those of evil alignment. This also works on people whose actions are considered “evil” even if they are morally just.
Power In Numbers: D+++
The more allies Assassin made, the braver she became. This skill resembles valor in that regard, but only takes root when Assassin is surrounded by someone she considers a friend, able to be multiplied up to three times.
A Girl's Best Friend D
Toto is the sole reason Assassin wound up in Oz and therefore she has him to thank for her infamy. While her aunt and uncle took shelter, she was searching for Toto within a cyclone. That very same twister landed the pair right in the middle of Munchkin Land and toto made sure to protect Assassin the best he could along the journey.
While Assassin herself does not enjoy fighting, and finds it incredibly difficult to hurt others, Toto is a vicious and protective creature. Having threatened both a wicked witch and the self proclaimed king of the jungle, he is a fearless canine who fights on Assassin’s behalf.
Noble Phantasms
There’s No Place Like Home
Rank: C
Type: Anti-Unit (Self)
The infamous shoes of Assasin, originally the prized property of the Wicked Witch of the East, she had used the shoes in order to enslave the Munchkins, forcing them to slave away under her tyrannical reign day and night.
So how did the shoes come into the young girl's possession? After the sorceress was accidentally killed by a descending farmhouse, in which Assassin and her dog were passengers, she was credited with the liberation of the Munchkin people and given the silver slippers as a reward.
When activated by clicking her heels together three times and saying “there’s no place like home”, these shoes allow her (alongside anyone she is holding hands with) to metaphorically “traverse the yellow brick road” or in other words; teleport. In reality, it is not teleportation at all, and those with enough speed could attempt to stop the escape with an attack of sorts. The only prerequisite is that Assassin has to have been to the location at least once before.
You’re Melting
Rank: A
Type: Anti-Mystery
Truth be told, Assassin did not mean to kill the witch. Not the first or the second one for that matter! This bucket is the crystallization of the event which killed the Wicked Witch of the West, even if accidentally. A death is still a death.
A shiny copper bucket engraved with several jewels and symbols, it is much nicer than any bucket Assassin would have had in life. It could be used as a sort of blunt-force weapon, it is certainly heavy enough, but Assassin lacks the necessary strength to wield it in such a way.
Once its true name has been invoked, Assassin is capable of shooting a large stream of water at an opponent with damage equal to their mana stat. It does not target one's physical body but instead aims to melt away their magic circuits. While the damage this does to servants is questionable at best, it has a devastating effect on masters. Imagine that, years of hard work and research being washed away by a little girl with a bucket. A true magus killer.
Alignment: Lawful Good
There’s No Place Like Home
Rank: C
Type: Anti-Unit (Self)
The infamous shoes of Assasin, originally the prized property of the Wicked Witch of the East, she had used the shoes in order to enslave the Munchkins, forcing them to slave away under her tyrannical reign day and night.
So how did the shoes come into the young girl's possession? After the sorceress was accidentally killed by a descending farmhouse, in which Assassin and her dog were passengers, she was credited with the liberation of the Munchkin people and given the silver slippers as a reward.
When activated by clicking her heels together three times and saying “there’s no place like home”, these shoes allow her (alongside anyone she is holding hands with) to metaphorically “traverse the yellow brick road” or in other words; teleport. In reality, it is not teleportation at all, and those with enough speed could attempt to stop the escape with an attack of sorts. The only prerequisite is that Assassin has to have been to the location at least once before.
You’re Melting
Rank: A
Type: Anti-Mystery
Truth be told, Assassin did not mean to kill the witch. Not the first or the second one for that matter! This bucket is the crystallization of the event which killed the Wicked Witch of the West, even if accidentally. A death is still a death.
A shiny copper bucket engraved with several jewels and symbols, it is much nicer than any bucket Assassin would have had in life. It could be used as a sort of blunt-force weapon, it is certainly heavy enough, but Assassin lacks the necessary strength to wield it in such a way.
Once its true name has been invoked, Assassin is capable of shooting a large stream of water at an opponent with damage equal to their mana stat. It does not target one's physical body but instead aims to melt away their magic circuits. While the damage this does to servants is questionable at best, it has a devastating effect on masters. Imagine that, years of hard work and research being washed away by a little girl with a bucket. A true magus killer.
Alignment: Lawful Good
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